Microsoft to help India’s civil servants develop digital skills

Microsoft has partnered with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Capacity Building Commission (CBC) to help India’s civil servants develop digital skills. 

The partnership aims to enhance the functional computer literacy of nearly 2.5 million civil servants. The training will be offered to job roles such as, section officers, assistant section officers, clerks, upper division clerks, lower division clerks, undersecretaries, deputy secretaries, and equivalent officers at senior, junior and supporting levels in the central government entities.

“This initiative will not only drive more productivity but will also enable ease of doing business with more digital solutions,” Ashutosh Chadha, Group Head & Director, Government Affairs, Microsoft India, said in a statement.

One of the major competency gaps identified among these job roles was the lack of digital productivity application skills needed while working on Microsoft Office tools like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint presentation, at a professional level. Therefore, training programs under the partnership will be enabled for the officials to upgrade their digital productivity skills, so that they can fulfil their roles effectively in various ministries. 

Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, MSDE, said that “by emphasising on programmes that drive digital literacy, we will be able to provide hassle free services to our citizens and bring transparency into day-to-day business”. 

Meanwhile, CBC said that it will expand the capacity building plans for the ministries of Defence, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Expenditure, Finance, Social Justice, Civil Aviation, Ports and Shipping, and Labour. 

As part of the collaboration, Microsoft will develop an online, self-paced learning course on Microsoft Office 365 digital productivity suite offerings for MSDE that would enable MSDE to provide digital skills training to the officials in central government ministries and departments. 

The courses will be created under two categories — Beginners and Advanced courses, of 12 hours duration each and the learners would be enabled with access to advanced course after receiving the certificate of completion in Beginners course. Microsoft would host the course content on Microsoft Community Training portal (MCT) which the learner can easily access, it said.