IIT Madras launches programme to help women return to work after career break
Digital Skills Academy of IIT Madras has launched the ‘Career Back to Women (CB2Women)’ programme to help women get back to their career paths.
There is a reason why most countries around the world, including India, have a massive gender pay gap. In general, most women take a break from their job either due to marriage, maternity or to take care of their family, thus, losing out on professional opportunities and career growth. According to a 2019 survey by Monster Salary Index, women in India earn 19 percent less than men. This is corroborated by a report from the World Economic Forum which states that India slipped to 112th rank when it comes to the gender pay gap. In the IT industry, only 26 percent women are working in tech roles, according to an Oxfam report.
To bridge the gap, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, has started a new course – Career Back 2 Women (CB2Women) – through its Digital Skills Academy.
Image: Edex Live
Upon completion of the advanced modules, women who enroll in the course will be provided with job placement assistance. The academy has tied up with Forensic Intelligence Surveillance and Security Technologies (FISST) and is using the latest technologies and programmes to run the course.
There are four tracks in this training – Data Science and Big Data, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), Cyber Security with Digital Forensics, and Software Engineering with Programming in Python with MongoDB. Each track has a Basic and an Advance module. The candidate can opt for any of these levels, which provide over 150 hours of training to women for them to get back to their careers.
"All participants will take ‘Back To Technical Track (BTCUBE)’, which is a 20-hour programme that will bring them up-to-date on technologies and demystifies the latest jargon," C Mohan Ram, Chief Mission Integrator and Innovator, FISST, told India Today.
Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, told Edex Live, “Many women sacrifice their active careers for various personal reasons and desire to return to their profession when their family commitments are over. However, in the IT field, the technology changes are so rapid that they are unable to get back to their careers as their skills are probably outdated. Despite this, their industry experience and knowledge about IT are immense and can be useful to many IT companies if they can fit into current requirements immediately. IIT Madras is happy to pioneer this programme from Digital Skills Academy at IIT Madras, to help them get back to work and retrieve their careers.”
The course will have teachers from Indian Institute of Information Technology Design and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram, along with industry experts from GITAA and GUVI, IIT Madras-incubated startups and FISST.
The academy plans to offer courses at different levels to students and working women in association with NASSCOM. It also plans to partner with training companies at IIT Madras Research Park.
(Edited by Kanishk Singh)
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