Limited access to technology and lack of confidence in online training have limited the advancement of professionalization through digital platforms, Microsoft acknowledged.
10 months ago, Microsoft and LinkedIn launched an initiative to train unemployed people around the world in technology. Around 30 million people have participated in the courses. The participation of Latin America and the Caribbean is limited to five million users.
Jorge Cella, regional director of Philanthropy at Microsoft Latin America, points out that the multinational company has sought to transform the perception of online education and it is considered an option to acquire knowledge that improves people’s quality of life.
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“People in the region are not used to taking online courses. It is a shame, it is a culture that we are changing, because new skills go hand in hand with better jobs ”, he declares.
Cella acknowledges that the lack of trust is compounded by the poverty and vulnerability in which millions of people in the region live. For this reason, it considers that governments, companies and society must work to improve the access and use of technologies.
The general director mentions that the initiative will be in force until December 31, 2021. Interested parties can access different training courses and at the end of the course they are awarded a certificate.
“There is no way for a country to recover economically from this situation if people do not have new skills. Education is what is going to move us forward. We have human resources, they are very good, but we need them to be trained ”, he declares.
Ramiro Luz, leader of LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions corporate business in Latin America, explains that the courses were developed from the most basic to the most complex, with the aim that users complete their training.
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In addition, they allow dynamics in social networks to facilitate the connection of educational and professional topics: “The contents are arranged under the learning routes and the positions most in demand globally are identified,” he points out.
It details that in the contents of the platform it has been analyzed which would be the courses that generate a positive impact on the students.
As of March 30, Microsoft and LinkedIn reported that in Central America the most requested courses were Customer Service, Technical Support, Software Development and Data Analyst.
In the Dominican Republic, 205,597 students were registered, being the country with the highest number of users, followed by Costa Rica with 62,731 students, Guatemala with 31,436 students, Panama with 28,950 students and El Salvador with 19,211.
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