With an objective to address the acute skill deficit in the country, NASSCOM Foundation is working relentlessly to empower over 700 individuals from marginalised communities with digital literacy, delivering life skills and socioemotional skills, job-specific skills, which support the transition into the workforce, and entrepreneurial skills to enable the youth to become self-reliant and future-ready.
According to India Skills Report 2022 by Wheebox, the overall youth employability in India stood at 48.7 per cent, however, various skilling initiatives spearheaded by the government are covering the ground, but not enough to meet the targeted supply of 109 million workers by 2022, says NASSCOM.
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To bridge the skill gap in India, NASSCOM Foundations’ resurgent communities programme supported by Micro Focus claims to have successfully trained 730 community members with digital literacy skills, and nurtured 35 micro-entrepreneurs in the community by providing with basic entrepreneurial skills.
These include creating awareness about relevant government schemes and portals, introduction to using of digital devices such as smartphones and laptops, educating the communities with uses of digital payments, and building awareness of cybercrime, internet fraud, and social bullying.
Apart from the skills training, individuals have also been guided on increasing self-awareness through aptitude and soft skills training to help them understand the different career paths and the skills that they will need in order to achieve those roles down the line.
As part of the project, 300 potential candidates have been given assistance with communication skills, resume building, formal terminologies, and their usages, technical and non-technical job training required for job placements, and have also been connected with relevant industry professions/partners for internship and permanent job opportunities.
It has distributed tablets to several school students at the training centre to help blend online and mainstream education. This encourages students to use digital platforms to support their studies. Executed by Smile Foundation, these trainings are imparted once a week for an hour at a training centre based in Bangalore.
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Talking about the impact of the initiative, Nidhi Bhasin, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation said that, “A 2020-21 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data states that 86 per cent of those between 15 and 59 years had not received any vocational training and the remaining 14 per cent had received training through diverse formal and informal channels. To convert this pool into human capital will require a dedicated focus on skilling and education. There is more than enough evidence to prove that upskilling the youth could lead to increased incomes, higher profitability, and greater productivity in the economy, ”
Sarah Atkinson, Director of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) at Micro Focus, said: “It is imperative that industry stakeholders including the government and private and public sector together bring cognitive skill, growth mindset, cultural intelligence, and digital literacy to create innovators and entrepreneurs in the country and enable the youth to be job ready and contributing significantly to the country’s economic empowerment,”
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