Infosys Training Attempts to Address Employability Issues
How does an introduction to the booming IT industry at an early age by a premier company sound to you? That’s exactly what Infosys is doing in their “Catch Them Young” programme. The programme is aimed at identifying talented school students and training them for a successful IT career. The students are chosen through a written test and trained in computer languages and other IT functions.For outstanding performers,there are opportunities for working on a real time project with Infosys paying a stipend.
In addition to this, Infosys also runs the “Rural Reach Program” where school students in rural areas are exposed to the basics of computer education so that they can aspire to a career along those lines later. The “Train the Trainer” programme is also worth mentioning as it’s objective is to train the lecturers of technical institutions so that they can handle their courses better and equip their students with the right skills.
Faculty Training-A Step in the Right Direction
In an earlier post I had discussed that the general unfamiliarity of teachers with technical vocabulary is a major problem ailing our technical institutions. A lot of the course material is lost on the English teachers who largely hail from a non-technical backgrounds and they struggle to explain things to their students. Now it is heartening to see that something is being done about this issue.
The Indo-US collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE) conducted a training/orientation programme for teachers in the field of technical education. Around 600 teachers participated in a session with acclaimed US professors to familiarize themselves with existing and emerging technology as well as to improve their teaching skills. These teachers will in turn speak to the staff of IUCEE regional centres all over the country enabling a large number to grasp various technicalities and become better equipped to handle technical courses.
Needless to say this will go a long way to improve the employability of teachers aspiring for a position in technical training and students who will be taught by them. I think these workshops should not only be conducted for teachers but for the students also. It will give them a chance to acquaint themselves better with technology and prepare some who want to get into academics.
Check out the report in The Hindu here.