New Delhi: Online gaming pioneer and industry leader, Zupee, announced the launch of their skilling academy, which will impart employable skills and promote equal opportunities in the youth of the country. Zupee Skilling Academy (ZSA) will be the first-of-its-kind mission by a corporation, aimed at skilling, upskilling and educating young, disadvantaged Indians. The idea is to prepare them for the future by getting them ready through skill training and ensuring that everyone in the programme has equal opportunities for employment.
To kick off the mission, Zupee has joined hands with a leading NGO, NIIT Foundation, to launch a unique CSR vocational skill programme for the underserved youth of Mumbai, enabling them to get entry-level jobs. The Zupee-NIIT Foundation programme will include certification training in digital marketing. The participants will be trained in important concepts like search engine optimisation, running search ads, social media marketing and analytics, all highly desirable skill sets that prepare them for jobs of the future.
“We are truly delighted to launch the Zupee Skills Academy (ZSA), which is part of our broader CSR vision based on three key pillars focusing on Sustainability and ESG, equal opportunities through skilling and upskilling, and technology and gaming for good. We are happy to have NIIT Foundation as our first partner in the Zupee Skilling Academy. This CSR initiative is aimed to raise the target population’s quality of life, status and living standards, leading to overall community development in the long run. Being a leader in the online gaming space, Zupee’s mission is to use gamification of education and skilling for better learning outcomes. With our association with NIIT Foundation, we will be providing certification courses that will prepare the marginalised sections of the Mumbai youth with much-needed employment opportunities. We are excited about this partnership as this is a tremendous opportunity to do good and bring about a transformation that has been long-awaited,” said Dr Subi Chaturvedi, Chief Corporate and Public Affairs Officer, Zupee.
Commenting on the partnership, Sapna Moudgil, Director, NIIT Foundation, said, “We are thrilled to have Zupee on board as our CSR partner. This initiative will include a hybrid model, which will leverage our Learning Management System and in a co-curated programme, which will be implemented by NIIT Foundation, students will have access to training modules, audio-visual media, e-Books, and other curriculum-based study and testing material. Post-certification, we will provide 100 per cent placement assistance to every youth that successfully completes their training and we will do our best to ensure that every single participant is placed in their relevant field.”
Skilling the youth for new jobs is becoming a global concern. According to the United Nations, by 2030, 4.9 billion people will be living in urban areas and depend on skilled jobs. With emerging technologies promising to usher in the next industrial revolution, it is imperative to prepare the workforce for it. From digital marketing to machine learning and automation, skilled manpower will be the biggest challenge going forward as traditional learning methods fail to prepare the students for such jobs. Zupee intends, through its skilling academy, to create game-based learning programmes that can teach these skills to users in an engaging and entertaining way. It has been proven that game-based learning improves learning, motivation and retention in students and this partnership intends to leverage this for maximum efficacy. To ensure maximum coverage, Zupee will be looking to tie up with several charities, trusts and skilling organisations to bring about this transformation in learning and education.
The Zupee Skilling Academy (ZSA) is a continuous, sustained long-term project that intends to lead the biggest transformation in traditional education, learning and skilling. This programme aims to be the impetus the country needs to become the talent hub of the world for emerging technologies as it has been for the IT and ITES companies in early 2000s preparing a workforce of the future and unlocking the potential of gaming for all, to claim India’s rightful place in the global value chain. We remain committed towards the realisation of the Hon. Prime Minister’s vision of a fully connected and empowered Digital India.