In a meaningful partnership between IBM and NASSCOM Foundation, about 5000 underserved youth from Karnataka, Telangana and Delhi-NCR have been trained in data science and cloud computing, with more than 2000 landing jobs. The objective of the programme was to impart technical, soft skills and life skills to the youth of the country, especially those from non-technical backgrounds, and make them future ready.
Through the ‘SkillsBuild career readiness programme’, IBM and NASSCOM Foundation targeted 23 colleges from where students were taken on for IBM-certified courses on emerging technologies in 2019. The programme engaged students with an on-campus, 250 hour-long blended training model that combined virtual as well as face-to-face sessions to build skills in data science and cloud computing in its first year. Later, the programme went completely virtual owing to the pandemic.
Students from 23 tier-2 and tier-3 non-technical institutions were trained by partners TMI and iPrimed. Post completion of training, IBM and NASSCOM Foundation, collaborated with the training partners to hold placement drives across the country. More than 2,000 students have already landed jobs with renowned tech firms.
Manoj Balachandran, leader, corporate social responsibility, IBM India/South Asia explained that the programme is “aligned to the Skill India mission” and that “IBM is committed to bridging the skills gap by working with an ecosystem of industry partners, academia and government to provide professional and technical skills to students and teachers. As the industry leader in emerging technologies, we consider it our responsibility to leverage that technical expertise in making skills training accessible to every learner across the country.”
Nidhi Bhasin, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, rightly, said, “The Future is blended learning – be it a combination between face-to-face and online/digital mode or between structured curriculum and skills- based or applications-based learning, or a fantastic combination of all these.” She urged companies “to take this initiative as an example to join us in our goal of closing the industry’s skills gap, in line with the SDGs, to provide employability to the youth from underserved communities.”
