How we developed the New Collar Employability Skill Program with IBM India and Nasscom Foundation

Synopsis:

India produces tens of thousands of science graduates every year. However, most of these students are not skilled in the latest technologies to be gainfully employed. On the other hand, many of the software developer jobs do not really require engineers to perform the role.

Nasscom Foundation in association with IBM India launched a program to target science graduates from tier 3 locations studying in tier 3 colleges and who are economically disadvantaged. The idea was to skill them adequately in new-age technologies and get a placed in a suitable organization.

The Situation:

Thousands of science graduates are not even aware of the latest technologies learning which would help them get a job. The situation is even more dire in the interior locations and even more so for the unprivileged sections of the society.

Graduates from these colleges are not employable in modern organizations as they lack skills – both technical and soft, to find a job and then build a career. Most students in these remotely located colleges have not even used a computer in their life and hence lack the basic skills required for a job.

The Solution:

We were appointed as the training partner for this program in 2019. Government and government-aided colleges in North Karnataka were selected and final-year students from the science stream were selected for this program. Some enthusiastic students from other streams also joined the program.

A 220-hour program was designed and delivered in these three areas – Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, and Blockchain. IBM provided the course material and the Learning Management System to facilitate the training.

In the first phase (2019), 1000+ students drawn from 10 colleges took part in the program. IBM set up a lab at these colleges comprising of systems, routers, etc. for use by the students.

Due to natural calamities that besieged the area, a blended learning approach was deployed. Every student’s progress was tracked through the LMS and our team motivated the students to complete the same. Most of the students learned the course on smartphones (sometimes borrowed from parents or neighbors) as they did not have access to laptops or tablets.

Post completion, a certification was given by the Sector Skill Council of the Government of India.

In the second phase (2020), 1200+ students from the same area (North Karnataka) were imparted this training. Due to the pandemic, the entire program was online with our instructors available to guide the students.

The Impact:

Here are the results of the program:

Students were placed in entry-level jobs in data centers, IT/ITeS organizations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Dharwad, etc.

The program helped graduates be gainfully employed who otherwise would not have access to the IT/ITeS sector.