Bengaluru,  About 5,000 youth from regions across Karnataka, Telangana and Delhi-NCR are now skilled in Data Science and Cloud computing, with over 2,000 of them placed in jobs through a programme by IBM in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation aimed at making India's youth future ready.

This had been done as part of IBM SkillsBuild career readiness programme. IBM and NASSCOM Foundation worked with 23 colleges to certify enrolled students on IBM certified courses on emerging technologies including Data science and Cloud computing in 2019.

This unique programme engaged students with an on-campus, 250 hour-long blended training model that uses online and face-to-face training to build skills in new-age technologies like Data Science and Cloud computing in its first year.

Subsequently, the programme pivoted into a completely online mode of education and learning due to COVID restrictions in 2020. Students from 23 Tier-2 and Tier-3 non-technical institutions were trained by partners TMI and iPrimed.

Several colleges in Dharwar, Bhagalkot, Gadag, Koppal, Nargund, Bengaluru, and Tumkur in Karnataka and Faridabad in Haryana were also a part of the programme. After the training, IBM and NASSCOM Foundation have been conducting placement drives across the country and have already placed over 2000 students in leading technology organizations despite the pandemic.

Manoj Balachandran, Leader, Corporate Social Responsibility, IBM India/South Asia, said aligned to the Skill India mission IBM is committed to bridging the skills gap by working with an ecosystem of industry partners, academia and government to provide professional and technical skills to students and teachers.