Nascomm Foundation launches Digital Literacy Week

This programme is expected to touch the lives of more than 250 million individuals over the next few years and aims at helping citizens adapt to an increasingly digital world.

 

The National Digital Literacy Mission is a far-sighted, dynamic and integrated platform for digital literacy awareness, education and capacity programmes that will help rural and underserved communities fully participate in the global digital economy. 

 

NASSCOM Foundation, the industry partner to the Government of India, aims to accomplish the first phase goal for NDLM or ‘DISHA’ by making 10 lakh individuals in India digitally literate within  18 months.

 

The content for making a lakh Indians digitally literate comes in seven modules and is presently teachable in Hindi, English, Telugu, and Kannada. The seven modules are Power in Your Hands, Internet, E-mail and Social Media, Useful Information, Government, E-commerce and IT Security. Everyone going through these seven modules will be digitally empowered at the end of the course after passing an assessment conducted by NIELIT (National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology). 

 

According to Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, NASSCOM Foundation, “The three R’s of education, namely Reading, (W)Riting and (A)Rithmetic which were all the rage in the 60’s are now passé. They have to be joined by a fourth pillar, namely Digital Literacy, to function in this technology driven world. NASSCOM Foundation has been focusing on making technology central to enabling change and the Digital Literacy Week is a great way to unite the volunteering strength of the industry and create a nation-wide Digital Literacy impact.”    

 

Shrikant Sinha, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, said, “We are glad to have over 50 corporates and 150 non-profit organizations partnering for this edition of the Digital Literacy Week and are confident of making people digitally literate. We appeal to all individuals to take out time and using their smart devices and start by helping their domestic aids become digitally literate.”