Bengaluru, 3rd May 2018: J.P. Morgan and Quest Alliance have signed an agreement to launch My Quest: ITI Development – a skills development program focussed on building stronger career paths for women studying in technical institutions.
The program, funded by J.P. Morgan, will provide advanced skills development courses to 5,000 young women who are pursuing professional technical education in 15 government-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics across Delhi-NCR region and Rajasthan. Critical job-specific soft-skills of communication, professional etiquettes, digital literacy and life-skills will be embedded in the training curriculum. Already, 500 polytechnic students from Delhi have successfully graduated from this initiative and will be entering the world of work or pursuing higher education over the next few months.
“While India has 12,000 ITIs that impart affordable, domain-specific technical training to young people, only 20-30% of those who graduate from these institutes find gainful employment. There is, therefore, a need to upgrade the skills of these students to improve their opportunities in the labour market. We are establishing a strong partnership with the government so we can make Quest Alliance toolkits, approach and technology stacks more widely available and incentivizing the training institutes to continue the programme by demonstrating success gained through industry engagement and placement connects,” said Aakash Sethi, Executive Director, Quest Alliance.
Eleven all-women ITIs in Delhi-NCR region and four ITIs in Rajasthan have been selected for this program and 100 hours of content will be delivered as part of the program. Quest will work with the institutes to build a team of faculty, introduce low-cost technology integration and self-learning tools into the ITI ecosystem to ensure that these modules are embedded in the curriculum.
“J.P. Morgan believes that helping the disadvantaged develop the skills they need to compete for today’s jobs can transform lives and strengthen economies. Embedding employment readiness within educational institutions helps nurture tomorrow’s leaders at the beginning of their careers. Our collaboration with Quest Alliance not only embodies our commitment towards the transition from education to employment but also does so with a special focus on women,” said Kalpana Morparia, CEO, South and South East Asia, J.P. Morgan.
The program will also run unique career connect activities such as market scans, industry guest sessions, and help students build professional digital identities using platforms like LinkedIn and connect with advisors and employers in a virtual or face-to-face environment.
Additionally, larger gender notions such as social pressures, class-room challenges and gender biases at the workplace will also be integrated into these modules. As little is known about the aspirations of young women and the impact of skill training on them, the program will also have an embedded learning agenda which will collect data and information on these markers.
