A leader from the technology company Cisco has said that the organisation plans to skill 2,50,000 Indian students in networking, security and Internet of Things (IoT) over a fixed period of time, says a news report. The move is expected to give a boost to tech start-up field, and also train students in accordance with the skill requirements of the future. 

Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India & SAARC, said, “We have done a lot of work in education and there are campuses that use our technology. We will skill 250,000 students in the country around networking, security and IoT areas over a period of time... We are extremely focused on India. We have been here for 20 years, we have R&D facilities, global delivery centres and have also invested heavily in the country in regards to Digital India perspective.” The organisation has been in news for being an active participant in the Digital India schemes and initiatives launched by the government, specially the Smart City project. 

The announcement is crucial as the overburdened tech-education sector in the country is infamous for imparting sub-par skills and knowledge to students, and preparing them inadequately for the future.  

The Indian IT sector is already staring at multiple existential crises, ranging from automation, to unfavourable global sentiment and policy. There is an urgent need to understand, and pre-emptively solve the challenges of tomorrow, by actively involving key stakeholders like institutions, training centres and educators, to avert inevitable negative outcomes. While the news of organisations individually taking up initiatives and programs to rise up to the challenge is welcome and the effort laudable, a pan-industry effort is needed for effective and far-reaching solutions.