NSDC joins hands with TikTok

The video-sharing mobile application TikTok and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), have joined hands to mark World Youth Skills Day 2019 (July 15) by launching an in-app campaign called 'Skills4All'.

As per a release uploaded on TikTok's official website, (TBH - https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-in/tiktok-partners-with-national-skill-development-corporation-nsdc-to-celebrate-world-youth-skills-day-2019-with-skills4all-campaign/) the NSDC (a government body for promoting skill development) has entered into this partnership to leverage the Chinese short-video platform and upskill 200 million users. This includes first-time internet users in India who can now be informed of the government's ongoing skills development programmes and vocational training opportunities.

Believe it or not, TikTok, (apart from the much-debated youth-frenzy it has created over time) has also turned out to be the preferred platform for India's digital-savvy youth to flaunt their creative expression thanks to its user-friendly tools and features that allows one to create enticing pieces of short-form content in no time.

The app, which is currently available in 10 major Indian languages, was banned in countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan a while ago for allegedly displaying adult content to the children and young adults it mostly caters to. A lot has been discussed about the app's lack of quality-control of late as a sizeable chunk of its user-base has been reporting abusive and sexually explicit content on the platform.

However, the Madurai Bench of the Madras high court lifted the ban on TikTok in the last leg of April, three weeks after it had asked the government to prohibit further downloads of the application.

Gaurav Kapoor, senior head, comm. and advocacy and industry partnership and CSR, National Skill Development Corporation was quoted in a press note as saying, "Through this platform, we look forward to engaging with TikTok's vibrant community to achieve our vision of a skilled India. Through diverse content on TikTok, we aim to excite and educate the youth about the various opportunities in the space of vocational training in India. We believe that by harnessing the potential of short-videos, we will be able to motivate youth to join the Skill India mission."

Nitin Saluja, director, public policy, TikTok, had this to say, "We hope to help NSDC bridge the existing gap of skills supply by educating our users about their initiatives."

Although it's too early to foretell whether this rather unusual collaboration bears fruit in the near future, it definitely got our attention as a not so run-of-the-mill effort.