JP Shroff

JP Shroff

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Message To the Youth

I would dedicate this message to the aspirational youth of today especially from the lower middle class who seek respectability and adequate opportunities in their professions. Our society has developed a rigid attitude towards certain professions which we have strived to change through sustained training in Skill Building.

As a long time Developer and Chairman of Shroff Group and as a Skilling Expert associated with Kushal-Credai from a long time and a mentor for the World Skills Programmes, I would like to emphasize to the youth the role of Skilling in nation building and for creating a well advanced and state of art Construction & Infrastructure Sector with the efficient usage of the latest Skills and Technology.
The Construction Sector is vast and there is a genuine need for trained Skilled professionals in an industry which is dominated mainly by unorganized labour. When we consider ‘Labour’ as a profession, our society due to an ingrained rigid attitude considers it to be a sub-standard nature of work. As we may put it, an aspirational but unprivileged youth may prefer to work as a Janitor in a Mall but not as a Construction Worker though the latter may offer better pay.
As a result most Construction Workers today are unorganized and lack the basic training which is so important for a professional to perform a specialized nature of work. This is in a way concerning as we cannot imagine untrained Nursing Staff assisting a Surgeon. As ‘Buildings’ be it for Homes or Office Spaces are a part of every person’s daily life and it is imperative that the same be constructed in the utmost professional manner with well trained workers providing safety and quality of life to dwellers and visitors.

We have been associated with an initiative in which we have put in a concentrated effort in providing professionalized training to Construction and Infrastructure Sector Workers providing them with the necessary skills required by them in a very specialized profession. We can today proudly say that we have trained nearly 90000 workers till date and the numbers are expected to grow. Our wards also have brought accolades at a National/International Level by participating in the India Skills and World Skills Competition in Tiling and Brick Laying and many competitive skills.

We have even strived to bring about a ‘Paradigm Shift’ in the attitudes of society towards Construction Workers giving it a degree of respectability and responsibility. As per the example quoted above a Labourer’s son previously would want to work as a Janitor in a Mall but would not want to become a Labourer due to the perceived lack of respectability associated with it. As it is all about perception we aim to provide dignity to all those associated with the sector that we love and work in.
-J. P Shroff