IBM has partnered with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to offer free training in emerging technologies and professional development skills to learners in India, the multinational technology company has announced recently.
As part of the collaboration, IBM will curate online courses from its Open P-TECH platform and offer them to learners for free through NSDC’s eSkill India portal to empower Indian youth on various skills. The tech major will catalogue its 30+ courses with over 60 hours of learning as a knowledge partner to learners between 18 to 22 years of age.
The online courses include emerging technologies like cyber-security, blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud, and Internet of Things (IoT) along with professional skills like design thinking.
Commenting on the partnership, Dr. Manish Kumar, MD and CEO, National Skill Development Corporation, said,
“The power of technology should be leveraged for reaching out to the youth with scale and quality. Online training through digital platforms like Open P-TECH and eSkill India needs to be accelerated to overcome geographical and socio-economic barriers. Digital learning will enable higher participation of women in the labor workforce as the scope for employability will increase. Overall, digital learning will boost the prospects of employment and livelihood for the youth.”
eSkill India is a digital skilling initiative from National Skill Development Corporation that currently has over 16 lakh minutes of digital courses and content across various sectors in multiple languages.
Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India and South Asia, said,
“As the pandemic is driving the digital transition to happen more quickly, there must be new forms of learning if we want to empower young learners with technical and market-related skills. Our collaboration with NSDC is a significant milestone to equip the next generation with digital skills. Open P-TECH will make foundational learning in emerging technology and professional skills for the youth more accessible.”
IBM’s Open P-TECH, a free digital education platform focused on emerging technologies and professional development skills, was launched in India in March 2020. It equips learners and educators with foundational technology competencies along with workplace learning skills. The online education platform is currently available only in English, but IBM plans to make it available in various Indian languages starting with Hindi followed by Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Sindhi, Urdu, and Bengali.
Needless to mention, IBM has worked with Directorate General of Training at the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in the past. The company has also worked with Central Board of Secondary Education, NITI Aayog, State Department of Education and state skills missions through its education and skilling initiatives.
