IBM, TS govt join for skilling 30k students in emerging tech

Hyderabad: Tech major IBM and the Telangana government have entered into a collaboration to provide curated online courses for the states students that will enhance their technical and professional skills, the company said on Monday.

IBM will work with Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) to offer Open P-TECH, a free digital education platform focused on emerging technologies and professional development skills, it said in a release.

A total of 30,000 students of engineering, degree and polytechnic courses would benefit from the initiative over a period of one year.

Apart from providing access, IBM and its training partners will also train college teachers in using the platform so that they can guide their students and mentor them to learn these skills that will enhance their readiness for their future careers and workplace.

"Our collaboration with the Telangana government is a significant milestone, complementing the state's education curriculum with professional, new-age, and white-collar skill sets for students," IBM India/South Asia Managing Director Sandip Patel said.

State Principal IT and Industries Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said: "I am happy that TASK and IBM have come together for the Open P-Tech initiative and urge students to make use of the opportunity."

Under the partnership, IBM will offer free of cost its entire catalogue of Open P-TECH courses in emerging technologies like cyber security, blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud, Internet of Things, along with professional skills, like Design Thinking to learners aged between 18 and 22.