Directorate General of Training joins hands with Cisco & Accenture

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Nearly 15,00,000 students across all the ITIs in India can access the digital learning module via the Bharat Skills portal.

Directorate General of Training (DGT) under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship on June 14, 2019, joined hands with two big private sector companies – Cisco and Accenture, to skill youth for the digital economy through its Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).

Along with the implementation partner Quest Alliance, this programme will equip students enrolled in ITIs across India with skills for the digital economy over the next two years. The organisations have entered into an agreement with the Directorate General of Training (DGT) within the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to roll out a comprehensive future ready employability skilling programme for ITI students.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Dr. K P Krishnan, Secretary, MSDE, by DGT’s Director General Rajesh Aggarwal,  Harish Krishnan, Managing Director, Public Affairs and Strategic Engagements, Cisco India, and SAARC, Ms Kshitija Krishnaswamy, Director, Corporate Citizenship, Accenture in India, and Aakash Sethi, CEO, Quest Alliance, according to a PIB release.

The programme includes tailor-made curriculum with modules for digital literacy, career readiness, employability skills and advanced technology skills such as data analytics, and a blended learning model enabled by a combination of online self-learning via the Bharat Skills portal and in-classroom modules.

The initial phase of the in-classroom training programme is being rolled out across 227 ITIs in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bihar, and Assam, targeting more than 1,00,000 youth. The in-classroom programme will deliver more than 240 hours of training to impart critical 21st century skills including digital literacy and digital fluency skills; workplace readiness skills including creative problem solving and use of data in decision making; and career management skills including the cultivation of a growth mindset and the ability to identify and plan careers. The online module is optimised for mobile phones to enable on the-go self-learning, and the toolkit also includes train the trainer resources.

Cisco will also provide access to Networking Academy courses directly to ITI students across the country. DGT and Cisco have decided to work together for the purpose of expanding digital skills into ITI educational system across India.

On the new collaboration, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dr K P Krishnan  said, “It is imperative that we as a nation adapt ourselves to the new age technology and skills which are market relevant today. Our ITI ecosystem has been one of the most outcome based network for skill development and this partnership today is a step further in enabling and empowering our industrial institutes with the latest in digital skilling.”