Through Fun Workshops, BharatCares Builds Workplace Skills in Students & Educators

For young people today, income, and the resulting economic independence it brings, are significant—it gives them agency and the freedom to make life choices. This is particularly crucial for women because earning an income allows them to negotiate with their families when it comes to marriage and childbearing, and exercise a degree of power and influence in personal and work situations.

India is home to a fifth of the world’s youth and has the largest young workforce. To absorb such a large workforce, the country will have to generate viable employment opportunities for its young people. More importantly, they will have to consider the aspirations and ambitions of this generation from an economic, social, technological, and ecological point of view.

Apart from this, Covid-19 has drastically affected the lives of people across the globe. UNESCO estimated that more than 321 million students in India were at home without learning and guidance when the pandemic began.

Traditional teaching practices of in-person classrooms and teaching became obsolete. The education ecosystem was trying innovative ways to reach out to children. One side of the problem was the massive challenge; on the other side, it presented an opportunity to relook at our education system and bring innovations that prepare students for new-collar careers.

According to a recent study by Mckinsey, in the next 10 years, 50% of the jobs will be changed by automation and 5% will be eliminated. The report also mentioned that 9 out of 10 jobs in the future require digital skills. It means that if these skills demands are not matched, then by the end of 2022, 205 million will be unemployed.

The pandemic has re-emphasized the need to ensure that the future candidates for these jobs are capable of competing and sustaining at that time.

In conclusion, education needs to be relooked across all age groups keeping the demand and supply of skills in mind.

A solution through skill building

Understanding the immediate need, in line with the New Education Policy and New Digital India, IBM SkillsBuild, a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative of IBM was launched.

Carried out by BharatCares, this program equips both learners between the age of 13 and 18, and educators above the age of 18 with digital technology and

workplace competencies required in the 21st century.

It is a free web-based platform designed to provide relevant workplace skills to anyone in the world so they can be successful in this digital era.

The trainers for the program visit the educational institution and carry out the training. According to a company spokesperson, the platform offers free online courses and digital badges in topics such as AI, data science, cybersecurity, job readiness, professional skills, philanthropy, gender and more.

She says the program is easy and fun to learn.

The course materials consist of different sections that students can explore at their own pace. It contains a mix of short videos (with written transcripts available), images, explanations, and fun activities.

Roshini Muthukumar

Roshini Muthukumar, a native of Chennai, started her career as a content writer but made a switch to journalism to pursue her passion. She has experience writing about human interest stories, innovative technology, entrepreneurs, research blogs, and more. Previously, Roshini has done internships with The Hindu, Metroplus and worked as a correspondent with The Better India.