TCS goIT Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary with New Micro Bit, GIS Technology Pathways and Digital Innovation Lab

NEW YORK and MUMBAI, India, Sept. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting, and business solutions organization, announced the expansion of its flagship STEM and Computer Science (CS) education program, goIT, with the addition of new technology pathways in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Micro Bit, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and a first-of-its-kind Digital Innovation Lab.

Through goIT, students learn design thinking, digital technologies and the agile methodology to develop and prototype solutions that improve their own communities or support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

GIS is a framework widely adopted to capture, analyze and visualize data in maps, and many industries are already using it to help in planning and monitoring. Given its importance to society, TCS is developing the country's first intro GIS program, which will empower middle school students to use the technology in the analysis and visualization of both data and maps to solve the world's largest issues. Micro Bit is a tiny programmable computer designed to make learning and teaching easy and fun. Given its versatility, success in boosting student engagement and low cost, TCS is offering this pathway for students to bring their creative ideas to life. goIT will also offer student pathways for AI, IoT and Blockchain in the coming months.

To provide deeper engagement and support goIT students in continued prototype development, TCS also launched a first-of-its kind Digital Innovation Lab. This highly interactive, virtual six-week course is designed to pair student 'scrum' teams with TCS 'scrum masters,' simulating the agile development cycle through backlogs, sprints and features. Students gain exposure to the fundamentals of product development, while gaining digital fluency in the tools to develop, create and launch their own technology solutions.

"At TCS, we are deeply committed to preparing the next generation of innovators and inventors for the digital economy. At a time when technology has revolutionized the world, over the past decade goIT has equipped thousands of underserved students with in-demand design, tech, team, entrepreneurship and app development skills," said Balaji Ganapathy, Head, Workforce Effectiveness, TCS. "The introduction of new pathways will help students keep pace with the proliferation of digital technologies, expanding their career outlook and building their digital fluency."

Celebrating 10 Years of Expanding CS Education for Underserved Students

Today, there are more than 500,000 unfilled technology jobs in the U.S., and less than a few million of the 50 million students in the U.S. K-12 education system are learning forms of computing skills. Of the advanced placement CS high school exam takers, only 22 percent are girls and 13 percent from minority groups. With a proven curriculum since its inception in 2009 at TCS Seven Hills Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, goIT has empowered more than 25,000 students in 77 North American cities.

• Over 3,800 TCS employees have mentored students in inner-city, suburban and rural communities across the U.S. and Canada, helping them gain in-demand skills for 21^st century careers.
• Of the students reached, 42 percent have been girls, and 67 percent have been minority students, two demographics that are historically underrepresented in STEM and CS fields.
• Furthermore, 70 percent of students say that they are more interested in STEM/CS fields after partaking in the program, and 94 percent agree that goIT has made them realize that a STEM/CS career could be fulfilling.
• Partnerships with more than 50 national, regional and local non-profit organizations, schools, districts and corporations.

"We recognize that the mission of preparing students for a Business 4.0tm world requires a long-term view and deep, strong grassroots partnerships in the education, government and non-profit sectors. We are proud that goIT has resulted in positive social impact over the last 10 years and we are dedicated to continually adapting the program to cater to the evolving needs of students, partners and communities," added Ganapathy. 

About Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS)
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 the last fifty years. TCS offers a consulting-led, cognitive powered, integrated portfolio of business, technology and engineering services and solutions. This 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 436,000 of the world's best-trained consultants in 46 countries. The company generated consolidated revenues of US $20.9 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019 and is listed on the BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) and the NSE (National Stock Exchange) 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 Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), MSCI Global Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Emerging Index. For more information, visit us at www.tcs.com.

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SOURCE Tata Consultancy Services