IBM leads with SkillsBuild Reignite for job seekers
India’s young learners now need specialized skill sets to work with the advanced technologies and to make use of the diverse opportunities available under the ‘new-collar jobs’.
Hence the Directorate General of Training’s (DGT) prime focus is on creating opportunities for Young India with a focus on new-age skills like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, 3D – Technology, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, etc. which are aligned to Industry 4.0 requirements.
With this in view, DGT has, in the past one year, collaborated with many digital industry front-liners like IBM India Pvt Ltd, Microsoft Corp (India) Ltd, SAP India, Cisco Systems India Pvt Ltd, Accenture Solutions and Quest Alliance, Adobe India and others to enable students to become industry-ready.
Even in the current scenario of the continuous impact of COVID-19, DGT is lining up with the industry partners in its efforts for enabling blended and e-learning with a combination of multimedia and similar digital resources for the students and trainees, trainers and the administrators, by providing anytime, anywhere online digital content through its BharatSkills learning platform.
One such strong and the growing partnership has been between DGT and IBM India with some unique and first of a kind program, said the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the parent of DGT.
IBM has committed to providing multifaceted digital skill training in the area of Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to students and trainers across the nation in the National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs) and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
Now, in its effort to address the current skills gap in the country, IBM and its partners are introducing the SkillsBuild Reignite and the SkillsBuild Innovation Camp.
The SkillsBuild Reignite tends to provide job seekers and entrepreneurs, with access to free online coursework and mentoring support designed to help them reinvent their careers and businesses, MSDE said on 24 June 2020.
Job seekers, individual business owners, entrepreneurs and any individual with learning aspirations can now tap into a host of industry-relevant content on topics including Artificial intelligence, Cloud, Data analytics and security to reskill and upskill themselves, at no cost.
Its special feature is the personalized coaching for entrepreneurs, seeking advice to help establish or restart their small businesses as they begin to focus on recovery to emerge out of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Courses for small business owners include, for example, financial management, business strategy, digital strategy, legal support and more. Plus, IBM volunteers will serve as mentors to some of the 30,000 SkillsBuild users in 100 communities in at least five major regions worldwide to help reinvigorate local communities.
The SkillsBuild Innovation camp is a 10-week program which supports 100 hours of structured learning to learners who are interested in gaining hands-on project experience to enhance learning and are intent on building their network and enhance their employability.
With the guidance of expert facilitators, IBM volunteers and coaches, the students will be guided through the design thinking process and learn strategic methods to craft their problem statement, ideate creatively, solve complex problems more quickly, designinnovative user experience and tell compelling stories.
The SkillsBuild Innovation Camp concludes with a pitch to facilitators, other teams, stakeholders and potential employers or investors.
In November 2019, IBM India, in partnership with DGT and its implementation partners, made the SkillsBuild online learning platform available to Indian students through Bharatskills of DGT.
Digital classrooms on this platform are available to students and instructors from the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and technical education ecosystem in India.
Within the first 6 weeks of its deployment in India, the platform has already benefited 4,700 motivated learners from 15 states and Union Territories who have been able to continue their learning despite lockdowns and restrictions.
It currently has impacted 14,135 learners who have completed 40,000 of courses and 77,000 hours of e-learning.
SkillsBuild has been rated as India’s Top 10 online learning platform by National Skills Network.
According to the India Skill Report (2019), only 45.6% of the youth graduating from educational institutions are employable. This reflects the massive shortage of skilled workforce in the country.
“There is a need to shift the needle and focus on new technologies and changing skill requirements to bridge the skill gap,” said Sandip Patel, General Manager, IBM India/South Asia.
“It’s important that we align the workforce to industry needs and technology shifts. The SkillsBuild Reignite platform helps equip job seekers with digital, professional skills and relevant training to re-enter the workforce.
“Not only does this platform provides career reinvention opportunities but also innovative ways of working and individualized support for relaunching business strategies,” stressed Patel.
MSDE Minister Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey congratulated DGT and IBM India for their collaborative efforts to bridge the skills gap in the country through this initiative.
“Today, we mark a significant milestone in supporting Centre’s efforts in accelerating Indian economy’s revival from the adverse effects of COVID with the launch of SkillsBuild Reignite and Innovation Camp, in collaboration with IBM India.
“IBM’s expertise in providing multifaceted digital skill training in the area of Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will strengthen our efforts in the recovery of local workforces, communities and economies by supporting job seekers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses,” said Dr Pandey
In appreciation of the commendable role played by IBM India, Praveen Kumar, MSDE Secretary, added, “Our mission is to empower next-gen with new-age skills and make them future-ready.
“Our collaboration with IBM will help us address the widening skill gap in the country and create a culture of up-skilling. IBM’s SkillsBuild Reignite platform provides the right set of tools, innovative approach and access to mentors for students to thrive in this competitive environment”.
Neelam Shami Rao, Director General of Training, pointed out that DGT aims to constantly upgrade and modernize the ITI Ecosystem in terms of infrastructure, pedagogy, curriculum and technology interventions for creating vast learning opportunities for the youth of India. fiinews.com