'Kshamta', a joint programme being conducted by software giant Microsoft and the Indian Army, is helping jawans to improve their IT and soft skills.

"I have improved my IT skills and I also feel more confident in interacting with people," says 34-year-old Army jawan Santosh Kumar.

He is one of the many people who have completed 'Kshamta'. "The programme focuses on providing IT as well as soft skills to jawans. This would help them in finding jobs and look at a second career option once they retire from service," Microsoft General Manager (Enterprise & Partner Group) Karan Bajwa said.

The convocation ceremony for 20 jawans that completed the course was held here recently.

"Kshamta helps to infuse confidence in jawans by facilitating training in IT skills as well as polishing their English speaking and soft skills," Lieutenant General Mukesh Sabharwal said.

Since jawans retire at the age of 38-42 years, the programme is right now focused on those who are nearing retirement, he noted.

The programme is for a duration of 110 hours. Out of this, 80 hours are dedicated to teaching spoken English and imparting various soft skills to the jawans, including preparation for interviews and resume writing. The remaining 30 hours are set aside for IT skills training, including the basics of operating computers.

Kshamta, which was started more than a year ago, is expected to benefit as many as 100,000 jawans by 2013.

When asked about the programme, another jawan, 26-year-old Ranjan Raj, said, "There is only one drawback. The course is only for a short duration and that should be increased."