As technology continues to fade out the boundaries between urban and rural India, corporates take a big leap to digitally educate India. In the recently organized Digital Literacy Week (DLW), 450+ volunteers from the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) members and leading IT firms have partnered to enable digital literacy for pre-university college students and adult learners with little or no prior computer experience. The week long initiative, is organized between 10th to the 15th of December 2012, and is part of the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) formed under the aegis of NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation.
Commenting on this, Rita Soni, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation said “The aim of NDLM is to create an inclusive India. Technology is an equalizer, and with expanded access through the National Optic Fiber Network (NOFN) and mobile penetration, digital literacy is of paramount importance. With the Digital Literacy week, we expect to reach out to more than 12000 people across the country. Supported by our all partners: including Intel, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NIIT, the journey towards a digitally empowered India continues with multiple initiatives lined up in 2013.”
“Intel along with several ecosystem players launched the National Digital Literacy Mission in August, and is totally committed to working closely with the industry and the government to make the goal of one e-literate person per household a reality. I urge each and every citizen who knows how to use technology to go ahead and train at least one other person to be digitally literate,” said Debjani Ghosh, Managing Director, Sales & Marketing Group, Intel South Asia.
About NASSCOM Foundation: NASSCOM Foundation, the social arm of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies), is a leading non - profit with a vision to build an inclusive and sustainable India by leveraging the capabilities and competencies of IT- BPO (Information technology and information technology enabled services) industry. The organization is working towards:
• Mainstreaming Responsible Business
• Promoting and developing Social and Environmental solutions
• Building capacities of individuals and organizations
• Influencing Policy Making
• Creating Thought Leadership
Through the overlaps of its stakeholders that include NASSCOM Members, NGOs, the emerging Social Enterprise space and the Government of India, the Foundation brings to fruition “technology for good”. For more information about the Foundation and its programs, please visit www.nasscomfoundation.org
The National Digital Literacy Mission:
Launched by Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications and IT, Shri Sachin Pilot, in August 2012 the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) is focused on enabling digital literacy among the masses to leverage the use of technology. Under the aegis of NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) saw industry players like Intel, Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, NIIT and HP commit to work towards the goal of one e-literate person per family as stated in the National IT Policy.
The objective of the National Digital Literacy mission is to bring all influencers and ICT ecosystem players together to drive urgency of making India digitally literate in order to match up to the other nations in BRIC in terms of competitive index, create a platform for those who are taking some steps in enhancing digital literacy to come forth and share their experiences and work together on joint programs and initiatives to increase digital literacy in India.
NIIT has identified schools, centers, trained volunteers and contributed their teaching centers in states of Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan as part of the DLW. “An economically challenged individual sees his life being radically transformed through the use of a ‘connected’ device. The very thought of being digitally literate ‘switches on’ the individual’s self-confidence,” states Rajendra S Pawar, Co-founder & Chairman, NIIT Group.
Some of the initiatives undertaken in the week include seminars/discussion forums to take the message one level deeper; provision of subsidized / free broadband services to some clusters in order to enhance connectivity, and employee engagement activities to increase volunteers to work for increasing digital literacy. The DLW enabled employees from the partner organisations to provide adult learners an opportunity to improve their social and economic self-sufficiency through digital literacy. Volunteers from the NDLM partner companies - Intel, Microsoft, DELL, NIIT, HP and Lenovo and IT firms such as Tally and Computer Associates are participating in various volunteering initiatives organized across cities - Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Trivandrum, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.
