The “STARS Centre” (Skills Training and Rehabilitation Services Centre) is a situated in old Rampur Village, Namkum, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. It is a unit of the Jaan Foundation.
Every year hundreds of young women and girls who struggle with extreme poverty and basic survival migrate as well as are trafficked by agents to major cities for domestic work and other work. Many of them are exploited, abused and ill-treated. According to some reports, more than 30% of them are never seen or heard from again.
The STARS Centre aims to help the young girls, who are either victims of child labour, trafficking or even potential victims of forced labour to overcome the threat and trauma of trafficking and forced labour by enabling them to gain their self- confidence, enhance their personal development, learn marketable skills and feel supported as they find gainful employment or self- employment. The STARS Centre has hostel facility for about 60 persons. This facility is intended to help young girls, aged between 16-22 from poorest and remote areas, who have minimal education and no skills. During their training which may last from 6 months to 1 year depending upon the course they choose, they are trained in both trade skills as well as soft skills.
The training courses offered include child and elderly care, housekeeping, hospitality and cooking skills. They are also given personality development sessions including computer, language and effective communication skills.
During the training the girls are empowered and helped to make informed choices and build sustainable livelihoods either through self-employment or to find employment as home managers. The objective of this initiative is to give young girls a pathway to safe employment, while promoting dignity and economic stability for them and their families, and consequentially reducing their vulnerability to traffickers.
There were three main subject domains offered to the first batch:
1) General Duty Assistant; it initially had 30 candidates;
2) Housekeeping with 10 candidates
3) Retail Sales Assistant with 17 candidates
All these three courses were of three-month duration. It began on 4th December 2018 and ended on 20th March 2019. All the trainees also attended life-skill sessions and Basic English and Hindi languages.
As an important part of follow up of the training programmes, meetings were held towards the end of the training programme, with the trainees’ parents to explain the Centre’s plan to arrange placement for the trainees.
So far, a total of eight trainees have been placed. Out of this, 2 are in Ranchi, 3 have been place at a hospital cum elder-care centre in Mokama, near Patna and 1 has been placed at a private house in Goa for domestic work. Trainees who have taken their training in Retail Sales Assistant domain will be placed by Don Bosco Technical Institute, Kokar, Ranchi once they give their exams which the first half of May.
During 2020, 46 trainees underwent training in Tailoring, Home-nurse, Computer and English and Hindi languages. During the pandemic lockdown, those candidates who remained at the training centre could learn tailoring very well and many of them have started their tailoring shops in suburban towns near their villages.
Leave a Reply