Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launches Digital Skilling Program to create one crore digital workforce

New Delhi : The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on Monday launched a Digital Skilling program in emerging and future technologies, in the presence of Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education in New Delhi. The digital skilling initiative will focus on skilling, reskilling and upskilling students via internships, apprenticeships, and employment to 1 crore students in the Emerging Technologies.

Major companies participating in this initiative include Microsoft, AWS, AI for India, EduSkill, GitHub, Miles Education, Google, VM Ware, SmartBridge, MyTat, Amar`11a Raja, IDS Inc., IBM, Adobe, Salesforce, Ziegler, Aerospace, Alteryx, Cellonix, NASSCOM, GMR, RedHat, Pi-Square and NIPUNA.

Speaking at the launch, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Education said, “Youngsters adapt technology quickly because it is in their nature. India didn’t have PPE kits at the beginning of the pandemic, and we rose up to the challenge and manufactured them. India didn’t have vaccines, but we not only vaccinated our own populations but provided vaccines to emerging economies. Today, we need to reskill and upskill at least 15-20 crore, white-collar workers, out of the 40 crore workforce in India. Today, every facet of life is connected to technology and digitization. All purchasing, ordering, and payment happen online now. We have to create a mass movement of reskilling in India.”

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Hon’ble Minister of State, MSDE, said, “The landscape of opportunities post-COVID has changed and digitization has increased. The result today is that no facet of the Indian or global economy is untouched by digitization. We are seeing the rise of tech-led Indian unicorns. Digitization requires talent and there’s a big deficit in what the world requires and what’s available. Newer technologies are required by world enterprises. India has a huge opportunity to welcome a trillion-dollar digital economy, for which we require skilled talent in new areas.”

Shri Dharmendra Pradhan urged edu-tech creators to create learning material in Indian languages, he said, “All Indian languages are our national languages. The universe of edu-tech will expand when connected to language.”

Dr. Anil Sahasrabuddhe, Chairman, AICTE, said, “We plan to train future entrepreneurs and catch them young. The ‘Digital Skilling’ program will also work to bridge the gap between students and industrial companies. Most important it is starting from 7th standard students where student studying in a school will also get chance to learn with big companies. With this, you can think that the future of the youth of our country will be prosperous. For this we have to create exposure for the students in top market-leading companies and their digital products for the future otherwise this dream will be difficult to fulfill.”

This is the first-ever collaboration on a national scale between AICTE, apex ministries like the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Skill and affiliated NSDCs, and Skill India programs (National Educational Alliance for Technology). Over 100+ technology corporate/manufacturing firms have already come on board on this platform to provide free-of-cost emerging technology certifications.

Shri Buddha Chandrasekhar, COO, AICTE, said, “With a vision to make our country India as the Technology Capital of the world, AICTE with the support of the Central Government, has initiated this campaign. Promising technology for every Indian student, it aims to evaluate, train, practice, intern, perform, certify, and employ. It is envisioned to register more than 1 crore students and get them trained in emerging areas for 3 to 6 months.”

As per data from the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MOSPI), the contribution of GDP from manufacturing is on the rise, making it imperative to bring in skilling initiatives that meet the diverse demands of industries. AICTE, through this initiative, will create job recruiters and skill trainers in every nook and corner of the country, with active support from the Centre. AICTE will give internship opportunities in technical fields for students from class 7th to Undergraduation through this program ‘Digital Skilling’.

Dr. Rajeev Kumar, Member Secretary, AICTE gave the Vote of Thanks and said , ” I thank Honourable Dharmendra Pradhan Sir, MoE, GoI for starting this initiative and Honourable Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MoS, MSDE for gracing the occasion as Guest of Honor and our Guide and Mentor Dr. Anil Sahasrabudhe , AICTE , Chairman for his guidance and support .