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Transforming India's public sector workforce with elearning

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Abhigna
New Update

BANGALORE, INDIA: India, one of the world's top emerging markets, is characterized by a rapidly growing economy, significant business expansion, and what is projected to become the world's largest workforce. The public sector takes pride in representing a significant share in India's GDP (over 22 percent), and is expected to generate over a million jobs across sectors in the next year.

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Over 75 percent of the total assets of the banking industry is managed by public sector banks while 18.2 percent and 6.5 percent are held by private and foreign banks respectively. The contribution ratio increases with agriculture, petroleum, energy, mining and railway sectors. With the Government's emphasis on the importance of inclusive growth in the country, the public sector is reaching out towards greater penetration and development in rural India which accounts for 69 percent of its population.

Today, public sector employees in India, especially in the union and state governments, are facing critical challenges that require immediate access to a wide range of professional and technical skills, across various subjects. At the same time, pressure to meet deadlines, deliver quality and control spending has never been stronger, especially with the impact of global financial woes.

Rising market penetration by the private sector companies and the trust and brand acceptance they are gaining in rural areas has forced the public sector companies and organizations to modernize and seek innovative solutions to solve their slow-growth problems, improve image and recognize that the key to success lies in educating its employees to function for the people better; professionally.

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Without a doubt, the implementation of modernized IT infrastructure, along with upgrades to business and desktop software, has aided government agencies to match the business efficiencies shown by corporate players. But to standardize the approach throughout, the government agencies need to provide the necessary training and up-skilling of employees across all levels of the organization to remain competitive.

Standardized approach requires standardized training along with standardized content that ensures personalized quality delivery, understanding and effective growth for an individual. E-Learning is not only an obvious solution, but it's also the future to the significant strides India will take towards a bright tomorrow.

The growing presence of the internet and increasing broadband connectivity in recent time, further strengthens the opportunity to reach out to employees in a cost-efficient way, while reducing the time, logistical planning and funding required when investing in traditional training.

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Accordingly to an article on Stockmarketreview.com (Nov, 2012), the elearning industry, is growing at a fast pace of about 27.9 percent and estimated to reach USD 70 billion by 2013, has gained huge popularity and acceptance across the world. The supply and demand metrics for elearning in India is evolving so fast that the market bears little resemblance to the competitive landscape it had two years ago.

Corporate India, specifically, has embraced elearning to onboard, train and up-skill their employees, keeping staff up-to-speed with industry changes and certification demands while enriching their professional and personal development at the same time. Elearning, apart from helping employees and organizations remain competitive in a dynamic and fast-paced marketplace, is also widely credited for contributing to talent retention.

For elearning to be embraced in the public sector, the government must push to ensure that all government employees are trained in the use of IT and understand its importance in the workplace. While some state governments in India have already taken a step in the right direction, many are still to follow their lead. The Bihar government, for example, is training all its ‘Grade C' employees in computer skills, as part of its plan to strictly enforce the Bihar Government Servants' ‘Computer Competency for Recruitment and Confirmation Rules, 2011'.

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This rule will be strictly implemented in giving increments to staff below 50 years of age; without which, they will not be eligible for appraisals. India's largest Public sector undertaking bank, The State Bank of India, has its own elearning portal ‘Gyanodaya', with over 200 lessons to enrich its employees' knowledge about the product and services the bank has to offer its customers. To popularize elearning among its employees, they also ran a reward campaign awarding all the employees who first completed 200 lessons under the specified timeframe, with gift and cash vouchers.

In Rajasthan, to ensure that all government employees benefit from various e-Governance projects, computer training programmes are being conducted at district level with their IT Gyan Kendra. This is an effort deemed necessary to provide high quality education, including better connectivity, computer skills and co-ordination amongst all educational institutions, universities, students and the Government. These efforts taken towards educating the rural masses will definitely bear fruit when further penetration by private and public sector players into tier 5/6 cities becomes imminent.

Not long ago, online training was used primarily by the IT industry to train and certify IT professionals. Seeing the value and quick return on investment elearning offered, the corporate sector was quick to embrace this solution and technology to gain a competitive edge. Elearning's impact permeates the entire learning spectrum, not just for employees, but also for individuals. Elearning promises access to education for just about anyone, anytime and anywhere, and is poised to gain favor amongst both urban and rural populace.

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The Government needs to recognize the plethora of opportunities elearning offers our nation, directly supporting their primary objective to achieve inclusive growth across India. But to succeed, stakeholders need to focus on building out infrastructure to support elearning; primarily addressing the issue of low broadband penetration in the country and spotty coverage. From mobile phones and laptops to affordable tablets, we have the hardware to deliver a country full of innovative ideas - all that is missing is a sense of urgency and vision for the nation.

Flexibility, cost effectiveness, scalability and enhanced accessibility - these are but a few of the primary advantages of online education for the masses. The growing number of public and private sector initiatives, consumers' growing awareness of the knowledge that is within their reach, and the rise of technology all substantiate the promising future that elearning in India holds.

(The author is Country Manager India, Skillsoft Software Services India Pvt. Ltd.)

(The views expressed in this article are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CIOL)

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