TCS’ Flagship STEM Education Program goIT™ Celebrates 15 Years, Empowering Over 300K Students With Digital Skills
- Since its inception in 2009, Go Innovate Together has reached over 300,000 students in 48 countries, helping them develop skills to thrive in the global digital economy
- To celebrate these milestones, Tata Consultancy Services has announced new, next-generation technology learning initiatives, especially for marginalized communities
MUMBAI and NEW YORK, December 9, 2024 /3BL/ - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, has enabled more than 300,000 students under the age of 18 across 48 countries with digital skills through 15 years of its flagship Go Innovate Together (goITTM) program. To mark the milestone, and goIT’s longevity, TCS has launched initiatives to train youth, especially from marginalized communities, in next-generation technologies, including AI, Gen AI and machine learning, to help them meet the requirements of the global digital economy.
goIT, a free digital innovation and career readiness program, was designed to help bridge the skills gap in science and technology fields and to inspire youth interest in technology. It brings industry and TCS experts together to offer training in mobile app design, microprocessors, IoT, and AI & ML. In addition, the program enhances student understanding of human and environmental sustainability issues by encouraging projects that support the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Balaji Ganapathy, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, TCS, said, "We celebrate the power of student changemakers transforming their communities by using 21st century skills and digital technologies to solve real world problems. It is the perfect way to honor a program that has been helping the youth strengthen their economic futures and establish an innovative edge. My greatest joy is to see over 50% girls and 70% minority students emerge empowered, bridging the equity gaps that are prevalent globally. Their innovative journey using tech like App Design, Cyber, AI, and IoT gives us the belief that we can expand access to such opportunities to every corner of the world."
goIT was launched in 2009 when a group of TCS associates in Cincinnati, Ohio recognized that there were more available positions in tech than there were qualified candidates. What started as a summer camp experience teaching a few dozen students in the Cincinnati area to learn how to code robots has since grown into a prominent skilling initiative benefiting youth across the world.
Over the past 15 years, program leaders built a meaningful and continuously improving curriculum and delivered it with the support of TCS’ employee volunteers who gave over 74,000 hours to helping bring the program to life around the world. The goIT program offers a variety of options for interested individuals or school districts. The program’s oldest and most widely adopted program, goIT Live, brings innovation directly into classrooms or extra-curricular programs. Other offerings include the goIT Monthly Challenge, goIT Online, goIT Work Experience which gives participants the opportunity to learn from industry professionals. In each, participating students develop concepts for tech-for-good solutions supporting SDGs ranging from health and equality to poverty and climate action.
Peter Singh, Executive Officer, IT Services and Chief Technology Officer, Toronto District School Board, said, “We’ve been partnering with goIT since 2014, together building a strong system for curriculum delivery and developing the best practices that ensure the program thrives. Our students love goIT and we love the way it develops their digital literacy and their capabilities as thinkers and presenters. Their response to the program is a constant reminder of why I chose a career in education and why I come to work every day.”
TCS’ corporate social responsibility initiatives, including goIT, Ignite My Future, BridgeIT, Literacy as a Service and Youth Employment Program, have benefited 7.1 million people around the world. These initiatives are designed to focus on K-12 education, literacy to livelihood, employment through skilling, digital entrepreneurship, healthcare, digital inclusion, water, climate and sustainability.
Learn more about goIT at https://on.tcs.com/goIT-AMERS.
About TCS’ goIT Program
TCS’ Go Innovate Together program (goIT) is TCS’ flagship STEM education program. Focusing on digital innovation and career readiness, goIT engages students from diverse backgrounds with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects and computer science, design thinking and digital innovation. The program offers an industry-developed, customizable curriculum that teaches students the 21st century skills necessary for a career in technology. Lessons cover topics including design thinking, rapid prototyping, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more. For more information, visit https://on.tcs.com/goIT-AMERS.
About Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that has been partnering with many of the world’s largest businesses in their transformation journeys for over 56 years. Its consulting-led, cognitive powered, portfolio of business, technology and engineering services and solutions is delivered through its unique Location Independent Agile™ delivery model, recognized as a benchmark of excellence in software development.
A part of the Tata group, India's largest multinational business group, TCS has over 612,700 of the world’s best-trained consultants in 55 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $29 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, and is listed on the BSE and the NSE in India. TCS' proactive stance on climate change and award-winning work with communities across the world have earned it a place in leading sustainability indices such as the MSCI Global Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Emerging Index. For more information, visit www.tcs.com.
