Retirement can be a mixed blessing. Depending on when and from what, it's either a well-earned break after decades of slogging it out or a jump from one kind of effort to another. For jawans of the Indian Army, whose average retirement age is between 38 and 42 years, retirement normally means being hauled back into a job market they chose to keep out of two decades ago.
To address the issue, the Indian Army joined hands with Microsoft in what is known as ‘Project Kshamta', wherein jawans are trained in basic IT skills, spoken English and soft skills. It's been a year since the launch and the third batch of ‘students' had their convocation ceremony at the Army Dental Centre recently.
Karan Bajwa, General Manager - Public Sector, Microsoft India, says the concept for the Indian Army was because of the Army adopting IT in a big way. “A lot of IT projects are happening in the Indian Army. And ultimately these projects have to touch soldiers in some way; they are the final users of technology. They have to use the devices, the applications.” A few questions arose about the need to train people who start seeking jobs well into their forties. Could they be trained in IT as well as spoken English and soft skills? On aspects like how to make a resume, how to prepare for an interview, how to lead a life outside this environment, which is “secure” in its own way.
Soon, a curriculum of 110 hours was created, comprising 30 hours of IT, 80 hours of spoken English and soft skills training. Aiding Microsoft in the training was IndiaCan, a joint initiative of Educomp and Pearson India, with British Council chipping in with the English language module.
The IT module took off from the very basics of computers, “ultimately leading them to a digital lifestyle.”
Central to spreading the influence of the programme was the ‘train the trainer' model. They started with training 1,000 trainers across 47 institutes of the Indian Army in 2010.
“Ultimately, the goal is to create a set of 2,000 trainers; then these people will train the next set and this goes further down the line.” He adds 1,500 personnel have been trained so far, with these going on to train others — a total of 3,200 till date.
Lt. General Mukesh Sabharwal of the Indian Army says identifying jawans who would undergo training was the key.
“A majority is in the infantry, artillery and armour. These are the boys who get in after finishing class X or XII at best. So we realised that English training would be important. We also have a fairly large number out of our 12-lakh-strong Army who are educated; they are graduates who have a fair knowledge of IT. We picked these people, got them together.” Also, personnel likely to retire soon are targeted immediately.
Getting down to plain numbers, he says, “The Dental Corps has only 900-odd people in the entire corps. Forty are already trained as master trainers, so the ratio is quite good. The other places, like the infantry, have 3.5 lakh people and we have something like 300 trainers, so the ratio is large. So those are the areas we have to work on.”
But to what extent can the course attain its objective, when the training is basic and doesn't offer avenues of specialisation? “When a person carries a certificate from Microsoft and from British Council, it does carry weight. It doesn't guarantee a job, but it surely improves the prospects. Even if you can make a difference of a couple of thousands of rupees in their per-month earnings, we'll achieve what we wanted to,” Bajwa replies.
Raj Ranjan and Santosh Kumar are two people who've just received their ‘master trainer' certificates at the convocation. While Ranjan hails from Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, Kumar belongs to Ara.
Citing an example of how Project Kshamta would be of use to him, Ranjan, who is also doing second year of Sociology says, “In dentistry, there is a software called Dentisoft, which we use to enter patient particulars and treatment information. Due to lack of computer knowledge we were unable to do that and usually took the help of colleagues trained in computers. Now I'm self-sufficient. I also teach my colleagues because I know. I'm a master trainer. And I know how to teach.”
Kumar, on the other hand, joined the Army 15 years ago and is an Economics graduate. He is glad that he can now visit a village and deliver lectures with confidence.
