Bangalore – About 5000 underserved youth from regions across Karnataka, Telangana and Delhi-NCR are now skilled in Data Science and Cloud computing, with over 2000 of them placed in jobs through a program by IBM (NYSE: IBM) in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation aimed at making India’s youth future ready.
As part of IBM’s SkillsBuild career readiness program, IBM and NASSCOM Foundation worked with 23 colleges to certify enrolled students on IBM certified courses on emerging technologies including Data science and Cloud computing in 2019. This unique program engaged students with an on-campus, 250 hour-long blended training model that uses online and face-to-face training to build skills in new-age technologies like Data Science and Cloud Computing in its first year.
Subsequently, the program pivoted into a completely online mode of education and learning due to COVID based restrictions in 2020. Students from 23 Tier-2 and Tier-3 non-technical institutions were trained by partners TMI and iPrimed. The colleges chosen for the program included Vijaya Evening College, East Point College, Vidya Vahini College, Vivekanand Degree College, Karnataka college Dharwad, Siddaganga College, KSS Arts, Science and Commerce College, Siddhaganga Women’s College. Several other colleges in Dharwar, Bhagalkot, Gadag, Koppal, Nargund, Bangalore, and Tumkur in Karnataka and Faridabad in Haryana were also a part of the program*.
After the training, IBM and NASSCOM Foundation, in association with training partners, have been conducting placement drives across the country and have already placed over 2000 students in leading technology organizations despite the challenges caused by the pandemic.
IBM has championed the development of technical, soft skills and life-skills in youth to prepare them for the ‘new collar’, future-ready jobs.
Manoj Balachandran, Leader, Corporate Social Responsibility, IBM India/South Asia said, “Aligned to the Skill India mission, 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. On World Youth Skills Day, we are proud to have associated with NASSCOM Foundation and our esteemed partners in providing industry-relevant content, skill sets and employment to students that will help them future proof their skills and build careers.”
Nidhi Bhasin, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, commenting on the completion of the program, 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 between all these. Despite the challenges during the ongoing COVID pandemic, NASSCOM Foundation is proud to work with IBM on this initiative, where together, we have skilled about 5000 youth and placed over 2000 of those students. We would like to sincerely urge 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.”
IBM and NASSCOM Foundation have also previously partnered to train students using other coursework on SkillsBuild designed for teens and university students. This engagement registered more than 50,000 users from almost 500 institutions across India being trained on Technologies like AI, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Quantum Computing and more.
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About IBM India
For more information on IBM India, please visit http://www.ibm.com/in/en.
For the latest annual corporate responsibility report describing IBM’s leadership and accountability in how it collaborates with communities, clients, governments, shareholders, employees, and not-for-profits on environmental, social service, and governance issues, please visit here. Follow IBM’s corporate social responsibility initiatives by following @IBMorg or visiting www.IBM.org.
About NASSCOM Foundation:
As the social arm of NASSCOM, the foundation works with the technology industry in achieving its goals of social transformation and impact through technology. Since over a decade of its existence, the foundation has touched more than one million lives through its efforts towards providing digital literacy, skills for livelihood, supporting Persons with disabilities, fostering innovation, empowering Non-profits with technology and engaging in volunteerism.
For more information, visit www.nasscomfoundation.org
Appendix
Testimonials:
Smt. Sushanti P K, Principal, Kittel Science College, Dharwad
“Firstly, I would like to thank the entire team of NASSCOM FOUNDATION, IBM and TMI E2E Academy. This type of training program that provides employability with zero cost to students is a first-ever in our college. We run similar programs like this through industry experts with experienced backgrounds but that module is commercial and candidates have to bear the cost. However, I am glad to note that this program is conducted free of cost with no compromise in quality. NASSCOM FOUNDATION, IBM and TMI E2E Academy joined hands with us to resolve the problem of unemployment in rural areas.
Our management team and I are happy to acknowledge that the candidates who had enrolled in the program have completed their training followed by its assessments. Even though the training/assessment was conducted on an online platform, the candidate response was overall good, and they took it as a new experience. The eBook provided to them was also a great idea because it helped them follow the lectures and prepare for the assessments. The TMI team helped and supported the students in every way so that they could understand the platform and process to be successful beneficiaries of the program. We look forward for these kinds of programs that benefit the rural poor graduates.”
Ashwini. R, Beneficiary, MGR College
“I would like to express my gratitude towards IBM, NASSCOM FOUNDATION and iPRIMED for conducting the program even during this COVID Pandemic situation. As we all are aware the COVID pandemic overtook the entire world, but IBM didn’t consider dropping classes and continued to conduct them regularly. They made sure that we qualify ourselves to attend any kind of interview and learn all the current trending technologies in the IT world.
The trainers from IBM had a great presenting style with lots of opportunities to ask questions and talk about real life examples which provided us with an enjoyable and informative course. It was a wonderful practical course both personally and professionally. During the session, we learned a lot about Cloud computing which is essential today for every company. We also learned a lot about Virtualization, IT infrastructure and Blockchain, and all these have helped us to gain knowledge about today’s tech landscape. We also had a hands-on lab session in which we are trained to use various techniques and learned the importance and advantages of the techniques. Finally, I would like to say that I feel happy and blessed to be associated with such a great organization and I strongly feel that collaboration of our college and IBM will help students achieve great success in their careers”.
