OREANDA-NEWS. Mr. Biren Ramesh Bhuta, Chief, Corporate Sustainability Services, Tata Steel handed over cheque amount of Rs 1.13 Crores, third and final installment of total Rs 3.39 Crores as approved by Executive Committee of the Board of Tata Steel at XITE (Xavier Institute for Tribal Education) Gamharia, to Father E. A. Augustine, Director, XITE, Gamharia at a function in XITE, Gamharia .

Mr. Anil Oraon, Head, Corporate Relations, Tata Steel, Mrs. Dilith Castleton, Manager, Rural Services, Tata Steel, Father Panka Toppo, Principal, XITE and Mr. Anthony Castleton, Dean, XITE were also present on the occasion.

XITE (Xavier Institute for Tribal Education) was born out of an earnest desire of XLRI Jesuit Fathers to do something more tangible for the tribals of Jharkhand after a separate state was created in the year 2000. The germination of the idea bore fruit in the deliberations of the meeting of the Board of Governors of XLRI under the Chairmanship of Dr. J J Irani, who was also the then M D of Tata Steel. He was gracious enough to offer the technical hostel building at the Tata Complex Colony (which houses the institute today) to begin operations of the institute. Mr. B Muthuraman, who succeeded Dr. Irani as the MD of Tata Steel and Chairman of Board of Governors of XLRI, persued the matter further and inaugurated the institute on 18th September 2003. Thus Xavier Institute for Tribal Education was born in Tata Complex Colony, Gamharia.

Objectives

The primary objective of XITE is to groom talented tribal students to be professional leaders in our modern society. Besides, the institute envisions imparting skills and techniques required for admission tests for MBA, Civil Services (Centre & State) and other competitive examinations.

In order to realize its objectives, XITE joined hands with other likeminded organizations like Tata Steel, the Government of Jharkhand, Societies and individuals.

Current Status

XITE offers a 3 year BBA (Hons.) course and is affiliated to Kolhan University. Alongside, special coaching is imparted to students in English language, personality development, interview techniques, computer proficiency, leadership skills and preparation for competitive exams.

The curriculum emphasizes conceptual and analytical reasoning and provides students insights into the business world and its environment. Stress is on self-learning, creativity and continuous interaction with the faculty, practitioners and among students themselves.

The Institute also conducts Management Development Programmes (MDPs) for various groups. It has signed a MOU with the Health and Family Welfare Deportment of Government of Jharkhand and TMH to train their doctors in soft skills.

Every year 15-20 tribal girls are given coaching and training to equip them with requisite skills for seeking admission in good nursing schools in Jamshedpur and rest of the State. So far all of them have been absorbed in TMH, Tata Motors Hospital and other reputed nursing schools in Bihar.

Future Plans

Though the university has approved 100 seats for the on-going BBA programme, only 50 students per year are admitted because of lack of large class rooms. Hence, there is an urgent need to set up a new campus. XITE now has acquired 34.50 acres of land from AIADA, adjacent to the existing campus, for its future expansion. The new campus is visualized to be unique and modern in architecture as well as in the facilities to be made available. Mr. H M Nerurkar, MD, Tata Steel laid the foundation for the new college building in the campus on 21 November 2009.

With the starting of a full-fledged college, the Institute intends to diversify into other professional and vocational self-financing courses such a BCA/MCA, B.Com/M.Com, Business Economics, Integrated Law degree and of course MBA. Diploma and certificate courses in Communicative English, Mass Communication, HR and others will be offered to complement the regular academic programme to enhance employability of the graduates.