GUWAHATI: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected over 500 million workers and 200 million students pursuing higher education across the globe.
In India alone, the unemployment rate has reached a new height of 27.1 percent in May, and close to 122 million people has lost their jobs in just a month between March and April as per a report by an e-learning platform – Coursera.
Over 37 million students who have been out of campuses are trying to pursue skill courses to get jobs and swiftly enter and return to the workforce as soon as the situation improves.
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Above all, it is said that business, technology, and data science skills will be more critical than others due to a common trend across the globe. Over two-thirds of enrolments by governments, companies and campuses on the online platform are for courses related to these skill sets.
India lags behind as most Indian firms lack employees with data science and data management skillsets due to which the country loses about Rs 332 billion each year according to a report by Accenture and Qlik.
India ranks 51 globally in the data science domain and 58 in data management competency, just above countries like Nigeria and the Philippines.
Demand for personal development skills like confidence, stress management, and mindfulness has also grown by 1,200% among individual learners in India as per Coursera’s report.
