Microsoft India launches CyberShikshaa in partnership with ICT Academy to educate rural women

The philanthropic programme CyberShikshaa is aimed at training and funding women between the ages of 21 and 26 who come from rural India to build their careers.

Each must have an engineering degree and be from a family with an annual income below Rs 7 lakhs (around USD 10,000), an official company release said

In its first year, the program will train faculty and higher education students from rural engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Assam, Uttarakhand, Delhi NCR and Rajasthan, it said.

In its first leg, the program will empower 400 faculty members across 100 rural institutions in India to provide them tools to train students in cybersecurity.

Through the trained faculty and ICT facilitators, the initiative will further train 6,000 students from rural engineering colleges to prepare them for a career in cybersecurity.

In addition, Microsoft and ICT Academy will work with a strategic consortium of partners to facilitate job placement opportunities and internships for over 1,500 students.

Speaking on the occasion, Kate Behncken, Vice President, and Lead of Microsoft Philanthropies said, “Investing in cybersecurity skills and preparing the next generation of security leaders has become more important than ever.

"India is estimated to have 1.5 million job vacancies in cybersecurity by 2025”, he said.