Ten tribal students belonging to four districts of Orissa have been given the opportunity to pursue technical education free of cost at J N Tata Technical Education Centre at Gopalpur.

The Centre has been set up by Tata Steel to spur technical education among the tribals of the state and forms a part of its commitment of the steel company to provide world class education to the tribal community in Orissa.

Since education encompasses both teaching and learning of knowledge, proper conduct and technical competency, Tata Steel is facilitating the growth of community through promotion of basic education, technical competency, and skill development apart from other initiatives. It has been playing a lead role in the eastern part of the country with specific focus in Orissa for sustainable growth of tribal communities to integrate them in mainstream economy through education.

The tribal students who have been enrolled at J N Tata Technical Education Centre are Surendra Bansingh, Monalisa Laguri, Madhabika Munda, Bhanja Kishore Purti from Jajpur; Manoj Kumar Tudu, Mandu Singh Khuntia, Jaysingh Melsandi from Mayurbhanja district, Pramod Kumar Singh and Uttam Kumar Nayak from Keonjhar and Katia Kisko from Balasore district.

This has been made possible due to joint efforts of the Orissa government and Tata Steel. Significantly, this initiative for facilitating free technical education for tribal students has not only provided them the access to quality education, but it has also secured their future. It is well known fact that J N Tata Technical Education Center provides 100 percent employment guarantee for its students.

From the year 2009, Tata Steel in collaboration with Orissa Schedule Caste /Schedule Tribe Development Finance Cooperative Corporation, Employment Mission, Government of Orissa is sponsoring two-years Certificate Programme in multi-skill (Technical) for Schedule Tribe candidates from the state for training at the J N Tata Technical Education Centre (JNTTEC), Gopalpur for a period of two years.

Tata Steel has invested more than Rs 28 crores for setting up the infrastructure of J N Tata Technical Education Center. It has come up over an area of 20 acres having a built up space of more than 50,000 square feet. The day to day management of the institute has been entrusted to Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF), a reputed name in the field of technical education.

The institute imparts 3 years diploma course in Mechatronics, Electronics and Manufacturing Technology for boys and girls from Orissa with a guarantee for employment. Boys and girls, those who have successfully completed the course have achieved 100% placement with the best of the Corporate in the country such as Siemens, L&T, Robert Bosch, Maruti Suzuki, Punj Lyod, Al-Shirwai (Dubai) among others.