- The event was a mix of panel discussions, success stories, experience sharing and demonstrations on technology inclusive education

NIIT Foundation, a not-for-profit education society organised ‘Beacon of HOPE’ – a tryst towards bringing equal opportunity for the specially abled, in New Delhi on 12th of February 2020. The day-long event was a mix of panel discussions, success stories, experience sharing and demonstrations on technology inclusive education. The key highlights were, a panel discussion on ‘Transformation towards Inclusive Education’ and a lively skit performed by the specially- abled students.

NIIT Foundation and Microsoft India have been working together on several projects to make the specially-abled digitally inclusive and employable. This event was organised to raise awareness of the role of technology to address the challenges emerging in this area.

The Beacon of HOPE event showcased Microsoft India and NIIT Foundation’s projects that are working towards making ‘digital learning’ accessible to thousands of underprivileged children and youth. The projects are designed to provide employability skills to these students and empower them to build a career for themselves.

Many stakeholders including government officials, NGOs, special educators and employment partners working in the area of disability were invited to this event. Ms. Juthika Patankar- IAS, Addl Secy, MSDE- Government of India was the Honorable Chief Guest. Other key guests included Ms. Manju Dashmana- CSR Lead Microsoft India, Ms. Ruma Roka- Founder, Noida Deaf Society, Mr. Manindar Singh Nayyar- Co-Chairman, Assocham India, Dr. Maneesh Mishra- Head, Sankalp, MSDE, Govt of India, Mr. Anup K Srivastava- CEO, SCPwD, P.Rajendran- Joint Managing Director, NIIT Ltd, and senior leadership from NIIT Foundation were also present at the event.

The key discussions during the event highlighted the efforts made by Corporates and NGOs in this direction, and the emerging demand for right training, environment & tools to make the specially-abled employable. Also, the need for government and corporates towards providing more placement opportunities.

The corporate stakeholders present at the event indicated, that the need for technology has always been there but projects like these showcase the realistic benefits of technology.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing global crisis. NIIT Limited is first and foremost concerned for the victims of the disease, their families, and anyone else who is being adversely affected by this tragic outbreak.

As the situation continues to evolve, businesses around the world find themselves in uncharted territory as they scramble to manage through the crisis. This includes learning and development organizations who will have to make major changes in their delivery approach almost overnight.

In response to this unprecedented pandemic, NIIT Limited and its subsidiary, Eagle Productivity Solutions Inc. have developed a set of actionable roadmaps, toolkits and packaged services to help Learning and Development (L&D) organizations minimize the disruption caused due to the accelerating impact of the crisis.

These actionable plans and roadmaps have been designed to help L&D organizations take control and minimize disruption for the here and now and jumpstart digital transformation for a sustainable future.

 These resources are available at http://info.niit.com/covid-19 and have been designed to help L&D organizations:

	STABILIZE: minimize disruption for scheduled training events in the here and now due to the abrupt implementation of work from home protocols and “social distancing”
	NORMALIZE: rebuild and regain control once the immediate situation is stable by getting a plan together to help organizations normalize training delivery operations for the coming months.
	EVOLVE: Sustain a digital future with a more flexible, digital learning ecosystem that is both more efficient and effective than currently prevalent models.

Visit http://info.niit.com/covid-19 for more information.

NIIT’s goal is to minimize any disruptions to scheduled work, training and deliverables to meet customer requirements, while ensuring the health and safety of its employees. To facilitate this, NIIT Limited has already enabled a work from home protocol for its employees. The company has also invoked business continuity management protocols for all customers and will continue to monitor the evolving pandemic situation and take necessary steps to ensure minimal disruption of scheduled customer deliverables.

NIIT Limited announced that it has specially designed and launched the NIIT ‘Remote Work Excellence Kit’ course to support India’s fight against COVID-19. The online course has been made available absolutely free on www.niit.com portal and will help facilitate remote working for adults.

The Remote Work Excellence Kit is suited for corporate executives, small and medium businesspersons, and management students. The online course covers areas such as how to set up a remote office, establishing a remote presence, setting up and running virtual meetings, time management while working from home, remote business etiquettes, and also best practices derived from NIIT’s experience of working with the best companies globally.

Sharing his thoughts on the kit, Mr Amit Aggarwal, VP & CEO, IT-ITES Sector Skills Council, NASSCOM said, “As companies are striving for business continuity, they are doing the best to support employees. With majority of the workforce working from home, flexible, virtual work arrangements isn’t all that employees need, to continue to do their jobs. They would also require some calibration & adjustments that can often pose some challenges too. NIIT’s ‘Remote Work Excellence Kit’ is a great resource that I see will enable employees to tackle and deal with the challenges of remote working and also help manage the associated stress that come along with it.”

When the aspirants log onto the course, they also get the option to contribute to the PM CARES Fund, which is enabled through the NIIT Foundation. The PM CARES fund has been set up by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi to provide relief to the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to clarify that the people opting for the course DO NOT need to pay any course fee to NIIT to complete the course. The contribution to the PM CARES fund is also optional.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing global crisis. NIIT Limited is concerned for the victims of the disease, their families, and anyone else who is being adversely affected by this tragic outbreak. The company will continue to monitor the situation and explore options to contribute in the fight against this pandemic.