MeitY and IBM collaborate to build future ready skills and enhance employability

MeitY and IBM today announced a collaboration to create a robust education and skilling ecosystem. It aims to create critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and next-generation innovators through the Common Services Centre Academy. Common Services Centre Academy, also known as, CSC Academy is a part of Common Services Centre (CSC) scheme of the Government of India’s flagship Digital India program.

IBM, along with their implementation partners CSR Box, Uva Jagriti Sansthan and Jeevitam will foster the capability and development of learners with diverse backgrounds and educational needs. They will extensively use technology, teaching and delivering specialized courses and training programmes in core tech areas. These include Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to train learners such as village-level entrepreneurs, functionaries and stakeholders of the CSC program.

About CSC Academy

As a part of the collaboration, IBM will curate and provide content from its key skilling programs - SkillsBuild and STEM for Girls. They will use it for the training services and in community development programmes. Currently, they use it to conduct classes across the 6000 CSC Academies in India.

The CSC Academy supports more than 3.7 lakh common service centres including 60,000 Women only centres. Further, it is planning to set up 6,000 CSC Academy Centres. Of this, it has already set up 5000 centres across the country. To make learning experiential, IBM will also focus to get the learners to involve in training, workshops, train-the-trainer programs and co-create training materials and conduct orientation camps. This program will also provide access to employment to 4000 village-level youth in the identified rural areas.

Dr Dinesh Tyagi, MD, CSC e-Governance, said,

“The NEP focuses on experiential learning. It focuses on skills like critical thinking, problem-solving etc that aim at bridging the skills gap of India’s workforce. This will, further, play a pivotal role in building a skilled workforce for local industries; thus, powering the success of GoI’s flagship programs like Make in India, Skill India, Digital India, Startup India etc. This collaboration with IBM aligns with the National Education Policy’s emphasis on learning 21st-century skills to ensure the future-readiness of India’s youth and realizing the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”

Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India/South Asia said,

“Exponential technologies like AI and Hybrid Cloud can drive path-breaking innovations and fuel the nation's digital India vision. To make this a reality, we need to create the right avenues and platforms for learners to have industry-ready skills. Our collaboration with MeitY and CSC Academy will open up access to deep technological resources and expertise to learners with diverse backgrounds and educational needs. It will also focus on skill upgradation through experiential learning - initiatives aimed at enhancing employability.”

As India moves into post-Covid industry transformation, there is a huge requirement of skilled manpower in futuristic technologies. These include design, 3D printing, AI/ML, deep learning, image processing, IoT, data science, cloud computing, blockchain, etc.