National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), a body with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) under Ministry of Communications & IT, plans to train 55 lakh students in ICT and digital marketing courses in the next 4-5 years. The government institution has laid the foundation stone for its headquarters in Dwarka, New Delhi.
NIELIT has trained over 20 lakh students in the last two decades across 31 centres. The institute also has a network of about 900 accredited training partners and nearly 6000 facilitation centres.
“NIELIT will be the centre of digital empowerment in India by minimising the digital divide through skill development and by providing basic digital literacy at the click of a button," said the Union Minister of Communications & IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, according to a statement. "The institute's efforts to start digital marketing courses is commendable as artisans, traders and others from all corners of the country should be digitally trained to take full benefits of the e-commerce revolution in India.”
A national toll-free helpline number for NIELIT students, an electronic system design and manufacturing (ESDM) portal and digital marketing information booklet were also released on the occasion.
Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Managing Director, NIELIT said, “We are very happy to lay the edifice of NIELIT’s headquarters which will help us achieve corporate professionalism, diversify and become more self-sustainable, thus helping us reach closer to our targets in-line with the National Digital Literacy Mission."
"At our headquarters in New Delhi, we plan to dedicate resources towards developing more industry courses, in areas like digital marketing, aimed towards employability of youth especially in rural areas,” Sharma added.
More than 9 lakh candidates were skilled by NIELIT in 2013-14.