National Digital Skills Program has been rolled out throughout India by Reliance Jio and the GSM Association (GSMA) a telecom association based in London. This initiative has been taken as a part of the broader GSMA Connected Women Commitment Initiative. Jio released a statement on Tuesday stating that this initiative has been taken to assist rural women and individuals and provide them with training about the effective usage of digital access. With a focus on reaching women and low-income groups, currently, the program has been rolled out in 10 states. In the next few months, this program will be rolled out throughout the nation as Reliance Foundation has been supporting these initiatives.
About 41% of Indian women do not use or very keep very less usage of mobile internet as per the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report 2022. There has been a record of many barriers for women in the usage of mobile internet like lack of knowledge or digital skills. The members of GSMA and Jio have listed out these barriers and worked together to eradicate them and provide proper training in digital skill development. About 1000 rural women and men from Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have shown interest and participated in this program.
Isha Ambani, the director of Reliance Jio said that Mobile Technology has the power to empower women in every field. It will make them confident, independent, safe, and connected in their daily activities.
