THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Scared of receiving shock, most people are wary to even touch electrical equipment. Not so in the case of 14-year-old Sreedev, for whom electrical and electronic gadgets are mere toys. He did walk the talk by displaying his zest to tinker with electrical goods at the zonal competitions of India Skills Kerala 2020 here the other day.
An eighth standard student from Ranni in Pathanamthitta, Sreedev locked horns with contestants much senior to him, some of whom had undergone ITI and other professional courses. He had made it to the zonal competitions after putting up a splendid performance at the district-level contest of India Skills Kerala 2020.
Son of Biju and Bindu, Sreedev started showing a keen interest in toying with electrical gadgets as a child, says his mother. The things he first laid his hands on were household goods like dry-cell torch and alarm timepiece
As he grew up, fixing electrical goods he cultivated as his hobby, quickly picking up the nitty gritty of the work on his own. Often, he learned the basics by re-assembling discarded goods that he gathered from around. Of late, social media and U-Tube supplement his quest for learning. His parents, who runs a small restaurant, give him their total support in his pursuit.
Sreedev says, besides his parents his teachers and friends at schools encouraged him to keep up and fine-tune his interest in handling electrical goods. Keen to choose electrical and electronics as his subject for higher studies in future, he said the participation in India Skills Kerala 2020 has enhanced his confidence. “The A grade I received in the district level competitions is certainly a bonus mark in my journey to be a trained professional”.
Sreedev, however, has a word of caution to youngsters. “Play it safe. Don’t toy with electricity, unless you know its basics. “
The multi-tier India Skills Kerala competitions are being organised by the Industrial Training Department (ITD) and the Kerala Academy for Skills Excellence (KASE), both under the State Labour and Skills Department.
The zonal competitions will be followed by grand state-level finale from February 22 to 24, at Swapna Nagari, Kozhikode. State-level winners will get Rs One lakh each as prize money, and runners up Rs 50,000. All finalists will get Rs 10,000 each.
The state-level winners will qualify for the national competitions and the prize-winning performers at the national round will get an opportunity to represent the country at the World Skills 2021 in Shanghai, China.
