The Directorate General of Training (DGT) joined hands with Microsoft and NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) to provide a digital content for ITI students and boost the various programs for upskilling and reskilling. Nearly 1,20,000 students in around 3000 ITIs across India can be benefited by this digitized e-learning module via the Bharatskills portal.
Over the last two years, DGT has collaborated with several digital industry front-liners like IBM, SAP, Cisco Systems, Accenture Solutions, Quest Alliance, Adobe, SSC-NASSCOM etc., to enable students to become industry-ready. Under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), DGT is responsible for imparting long-term institutional training to the nation’s youth through its extensive network of about 15,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 33 National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs). DGT plays a key role in the execution of vocational training schemes and in realizing the dream of ‘Skill India’.
Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said, “Through the DGT-Microsoft partnership, we are aiming to impact thousands of students by enabling digitization in education and hope it to reach more students and teachers soon. As the pandemic is compelling fast-track digital transition, these new learning initiatives will empower young learners with technical and market-oriented skills.”
DGT launched an online learning platform called Bharatskills (https://bharatskills.gov.in) in October 2019. Bharatskills provides easy access to updated curricula and course content of all courses under the Craftsmen Training Scheme (CTS), Question Banks, mock/practice papers, learning videos, etc. The platform is available to trainees and trainers of the ITI ecosystem, thus enabling learning outside the classrooms. This platform also presents a unique access to a centralized, scalable and a thriving support ecosystem through its industrial partners for students and teachers, who can now learn to meet the demands of the industry.
During the current COVID-19 pandemic, the usage of the Bharatskills learning platform increased multifold from around 90,000 users in March 2020 to more than 16.55 Lakh users having accessed the portal as on date.
Speaking on the occasion, Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said that empowering the next generation of learners with industry relevant digital skills was critical as we moved towards building economic resilience. “The last few months have accelerated the need for upskilling and has shown clearly that the future of learning will be supported by technology. Our partnership with DGT and NASSCOM is built on this foundation of equipping the learners of today with the skills required to thrive in the jobs of tomorrow”, he said.
Under an MoU between DGT, Microsoft and NASSCOM, Microsoft has facilitated access to free content available on the Microsoft Learn platform for more than 24 Lakh students in the ITI ecosystem, by linking the Global Skilling Initiative (GSI) through the Bharatskills platform. Further, it is enabling the digitization of the entire content of a popular course – ‘Computer Operating and Programming Assistant’ (COPA) through NASSCOM. Trainers/Faculties in the NSTIs and ITIs are participating in the faculty development programs being conducted with Microsoft’s support.
The blended content, with self-learning digital tutorials and handholding from teachers, is expected to be accessed by more than 1 lakh 20 thousand students pursuing the course across 3000 industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) annually. This is expected to reduce the number of class-room hours and student-teacher engagement, leading to the possibility of training double the existing number of students in COPA course within the same infrastructure.
(Published from PIB)