Call this the Covid-19 induced lockdown and resulting trend of work-from-home effect but the government, which is keen to turn Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity, is going full steam in increasing the adoption of its online learning platform iGOT(integrated Government online training). It aims to transform it into a one source training hub for millions of Central and State government officials.

The government’s long-term plan includes turning the platform into a database that captures the talent pool of government officials, said an official. Also, one important criteria for assigning them roles could be the training courses they complete on this platform going forward.

This was shared last week by a senior official of the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), with senior officials of training academies of other Ministries, in an on-line meeting.

Jobs based on skills

This initiative of DOPT can help the government map talent of its employees and match them with roles based on skills earned. Within one eco-system, or department of the government, a supervisor can assign roles based on the courses an officer has completed or ask an officer to do specific courses based on the role he is performing, an official told BusinessLine .

The move gathers momentum as training institutes across many ministries have remained shut for the fear of the pandemic. As many of those were not equipped to take online courses quickly, new recruits couldn’t be given functional training which delayed their joining duties. The institutes like IAS Academy, income tax and defence have been doing virtual classes.

“The iGOT platform has been designed with the provisions of user ratings. This will over a period of time help generation of good and relevant content based on user feeedback. Years of mediocrity in government training will definitely change with this platform,” the official said.

The move will also help the government save expenditure on the travel and dearness allowance, allow many more to be trained than in physical training sessions and most importantly the concept of self-paced learning will be introduced. In addition, the content contributing institutes and their authors will also have the flexibility to make the programme available to any category of target audience of their choice and also make it chargeable if the content they hosted is premium.

In the first instance, this platform has been used by many healthcare workers who were at the frontline of tackling Covid-19 on ground by learning from modules on Covid-related issues. Individually, several Ministries including Railways have taken their training online. The Indian Railway Institute of Transport Management (IRITM) has also planned online training programmes. The Indian Railways is also offering several internship oppurtunities.

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