Even as the deadly Covid-19 pandemic has continued to play havoc on employment globally, technology giant Microsoft claimed that it has helped over 30 lakh people in India gain access to digital skills during the last one year.
According to the company's Indian arm, at a time when due to the pandemic hundreds and thousands of students were laid-off, digital courses conducted by the company have helped people get better skills for the job market.
Microsoft under its global outreach programme has partnered with the Union government along with various industry bodies and non-profit partners to create a strong digital skilling ecosystem in the country. Last year, Microsoft joined hands with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) in India to empower one lakh, underserved young women, across India with digital skills, said the company.
Microsoft has also partnered with the Directorate General of Training (DGT), Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Nasscom Foundation to create learning pathways for students at the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) in India.
According to Microsoft, the company has so far helped over 30 million people in 249 countries and territories gain access to digital skills. Microsoft said it is also extending its commitment to help 250,000 companies globally make a skills-based hire in 2021.
“Skills will be the new currency in the post-pandemic world. Over the past year, we've seen the pandemic affect people all across the world, including those who could bear it the least,” Microsoft Asia President, Ahmed Mazhari, said in a statement.
“For us to emerge stronger from the pandemic, reskilling needs to be at the centre of our economic reset,” Mazhari added.
Further to promote skilling as a national priority, Nasscom FutureSkills and Microsoft announced their collaboration last year to launch a nation-wide AI skilling initiative that aims to skill 10 lakh students in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by 2021.
