Salesforce to train 2.5 lakh students in emerging technologies by 2022

San Francisco-based cloud customer relationship management firm Salesforce has signed multiple agreements to train 2.5 lakh students in India by 2022. The company has partnered with the ICT Academy, Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) and ICT Academy of Kerala (ICTAK).

Through these partnerships, Salesforce is planning to bring Trailhead, the company's free online learning platform, into the students' classrooms to upskill them through gamified learning content and hands-on challenges, according to a statement.

Quoting a recent study by research firm IDC, Salesforce said that its own ecosystem of products and platforms will create close to 5.5 lakh direct jobs and $67 billion in new business revenues in India between 2019 and 2024. Trailhead can help students build the skills they need to land an in-demand job in technology, both within and beyond the Salesforce ecosystem, it added.

“As one of the youngest countries in the world, India needs to adopt rapid innovation with the adoption of emerging technologies such as IoT and AI are changing the ways we live and work. The workforce needs to be prepared to tackle challenges unique to our digital age,” said Sunil Jose, senior vice president and country leader at Salesforce India.  

Founded in 2009 through a public-private partnership, ICT Academy is a government of India initiative where Salesforce will train over 500 educators to use Trailhead. In turn, the educators will train over 150,000 students in the next three years, from 200 member institutes across the country. The organisation has more than 800 member institutes in the country.

“Our aim is to provide industry curated, new technology training programme using cutting edge technology enablers, to a large number of students at their colleges,” said M Sivasankar IAS, secretary to the chief minister and secretary of the Electronics and IT Dept, government of Kerala. 

Through the existing partnership with the ICT Academy of Kerala and Skills Delivery Platform Kerala (SDPK), the company will set up an e-learning network to reach 75 colleges with around 25,000 students in one year.

“In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the old model of learn-do-retire won’t work and skills will become the new currency for the employment market,” said Shrikant Sinha, CEO, Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge. In Telangana, TASK will reach out to 50 institutions in the state with 100 educators training 75,000 students over the next three years.

Salesforce will plan, create and execute each of these programs for students, providing the support required to its partners for training to meet the programme objectives. The company will also bring job recruitment opportunities to students trained on its technologies to increase their employment opportunities.

Trailhead is Salesforce’s free online learning platform with more than 1.8 million learners skilling up and earning credentials on the platform.