The Future Right Skills Network, a collaborative effort by Accenture, Cisco and J.P. Morgan, and facilitated by the non-profit Quest Alliance has announced the expansion of its partnership with the Directorate General of Training (DGT) under the aegis of Ministry of Skills Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to offer digital skills training to all students enrolled in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across India.
Each year, over 2.5 million students enroll into ITIs across India. The skilling program focuses on 21st-century skills required in the modern workplace and includes modules for digital literacy, effective communication, workplace readiness and advanced technology skills.
In 2019, the Directorate General of Training (DGT) signed a year-long memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Future Right Skills Network, a collaborative effort by Accenture, Cisco and Quest Alliance to offer free-of-cost access to a program that helps build skills for the digital economy to all students enrolled in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across India. (2019 news release appended below for reference). In 2020, J.P. Morgan joined the Future Right Skills Network.
The Future Right Skills Network was set up to provide:
* Access to skilling content (online self-learning) to all students at ITIs via the Bharat Skills portal and Quest app (1.5 million in 2019)
* Comprehensive blended learning (online self-learning as well as in-classroom training) to 100,000 students from 227 ITIs in the states of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bihar and Assam.
* Providing teacher training through an online tool kit
Recent program updates and additions:
* Recently, the Directorate General of Training (DGT) has expanded its partnership with The Future Right Skills Network effort for a period of three years - from 2021 to 2024 - to offer free-of-cost digital skills training to all students enrolled in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) across India. Each year, over 2.5 million students enrol in ITIs across India.
* Since 2019, the Future Right Skills Network has trained 377,000 youth and 6600+ trainers at 800+ ITIs and National Skill Training Institutes (NSTI) across India.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that flexibility and adaptability are key to navigating the future of work. Hence, the education and skilling sectors need to focus on building skills that will enhance employability while also nurturing self-learning mindsets to ensure that the potential of India's demographic dividend is maximized. Our Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) - which cater to as many as 2.5 million students at any point of time, are the key to ensure that youth in India are future-ready for the 21st century workplace," said Director General/ Additional Secretary - Directorate General of Training.
Speaking about the partnership, Aakash Sethi, CEO, Quest Alliance, said, "The Future Right Skills Network aims to build an ecosystem to augment, enhance and create exponential impact in the ITI ecosystem in close partnership with the Central and State Governments. Our strategic goal over the next three years is to equip youth in India with critical skills as they transition into the world of work. Linear job trajectories are no longer the norm and it is 21st century skills like digital fluency, self-learning, critical thinking and problem solving that will help youth thrive as part of the future workforce." "Our collaboration with the Government of India is mission-critical to our goal," he added.
"The rapid pace and scale of change in the post-pandemic world is disrupting labor markets and fundamentally altering the future of work. Next-generation workers can expect to navigate multiple jobs, including many that have not yet been invented. A growth mindset characterized by resilience, adaptability and a love of learning, underpins all other skills needed for job seekers to successfully navigate the evolving world of work. This is the kind of deep impact that the Future Right Skills Network is working to achieve," said Kshitija Krishnaswamy, Managing Director - Corporate Citizenship, Accenture in India on behalf of the Future Right Skills Network.
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( With inputs from ANI )