Cisco to partner NIOS for ICT courses in vocational institutes
netindia.in, Feb 4, 2010
Networking major Cisco today said it would collaborate with the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to introduce information and communication technology (ICT) curriculum in six selected accredited vocational institutes (AVIs) in the country, including one in the North-East.
As a Cisco Local Academy, each of these institutes will provide IT Essentials, PC Hardware and Networking Information Technology courses to around 100 students each year as a part of their offerings.
The course will prepare students for networking and IT-related careers in the public and private sectors, as well as for higher education in engineering, computer science and related fields, a press release from CISCO said.
The selected AVIs are located in Ambala, Bhopal, Balangir (Orissa), Delhi, Mumbai and Shillong. Several more NIOS AVIs will offer this course later, it said.
The release said CISCO had imparted training to nine instructors from the six AVIs at the Centre for Electronic Governance, Jaipur from January 18-23. As a part of the initiative, Cisco will provide its free web-based curriculum, online course material of the Networking Academy and 24x7 technical support to the institutes.
"At Cisco, we aim to enhance the employability of the youth at the grassroot level so as to enable them to harness the enormous opportunities in the ICT domain. Forging strong industry-academia partnerships is the cornerstone of our strategy aimed at bridging the existing skills gap in IT networking. We are proud to collaborate with NIOS in its efforts to bring world-class networking education to students at various centres across the country," Mr. Lokesh Mehra, Regional Manager, Corporate Responsibility, Cisco - South Asia said.
NIOS Chairman S S Jena said the students of its AVIs would, through the Network Academy programme, receive the benefit of Internet and networking educaton. "This will not only help students tap opportunities in the IT world but also help meet the Prime Minister's vision of a knowledge-based economy by 2020," he said.
"Jobs of the future will go where there is an educated workforce, an infrastructure and a supportive government. We strongly believe that by working with industry leaders such as Cisco, we can provide the appropriate training to students to provide talent needed to support the IT industry in the region," Dr. Anita Priyadarshini, Director, Vocational Education, NIOS, said.
The release said NIOS would introduce the IT Essentials course intended for students in upper secondary schools, technical and vocational schools who want to pursue careers in IT and gain working knowledge of how computers work, how to assemble computers, and how to troubleshoot hardware and software issues.
In addition to networking and IT skills, the curriculum will also reinforce IT literacy, problem-solving, communication and working with others from different backgrounds. Students receive the same quality of education through e-learning curricula, labs and online assessments, as well as consistency of certifications.
Worldwide, there are 10,000 Networking Academy institutions and more than 1.6 million students in over 150 countries, the release added.
The NIOS is an organization under the Ministry of Human Resource Development and has been vested with the authority to enroll, examine and certify students upto pre-degree level, in academic and technical/vocational streams, through open and distance learning mode, the release added.
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