August 2025 | 961 words | 3-minute read
Launched in 2017, TCS’ Ignite My Future (IMF) programme has enabled teachers help students prepare for the AI era by integrating Computational Thinking (CT), a foundational 21st century skill, into all core subjects. Similarly, TCS go Innovate Together (goIT), which began in 2009, equips students with future ready skills, inspiring them to become innovators while helping them solve societal problems. These are only two of TCS’ targeted initiatives aimed at equipping young minds – in India and abroad – with real-world skills that centre around technology.
According to The India Ageing Report 2023, by 2050, one in five Indians will be a senior citizen. Many elderly individuals, especially in rural India, live alone as their children migrate for work. This separation often leads to missed medications, forgotten doctor appointments, and emotional isolation, leaving them vulnerable during emergencies.
Moved by the loneliness faced by their own grandparents, six students from Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Sanauli village, Barabanki district, Uttar Pradesh, took the initiative to address this problem. As part of their entry for the go Innovate Together (goIT) Global Innovator of the Year competition, they developed the Elderly WalkSafe app to address the daily challenges faced by senior citizens. The app offers medical alerts, access to digital health records, and emergency services tailored for the elderly. A standout feature, Family Squad, enables seamless connection between parents and children, encouraging regular communication and emotional bonding. By combining empathy with innovation, the students created a practical solution that empowers seniors to live safer, more connected lives. The app not only addresses immediate health and safety concerns but also fosters intergenerational relationships, offering a compelling example of how youth-led technology can tackle real-world challenges in ageing societies.
Another entry for the goIT competition started with a simple question, “Can you guess which one of these images is from our recycling bin and which one is from a waste bin?” That moment revealed an unsettling truth. Contaminated recycling often ends up in landfills, doing more harm than good.
It led two seventh graders from Australia to create SCRAPP, a recycling and upcycling app designed to help users creatively reuse materials and reduce waste.
As a concept, SCRAPP is a solution that uses artificial intelligence (AI), gamification, and community tools to educate, engage, and empower users to make responsible waste management decisions. It is designed to be fun and effective. Whether scanning a package for sorting instructions, exploring interactive mini-games, or sharing DIY projects with friends, users of SCRAPP can transform environmental sustainability into something as personal as it is impactful. The app also integrates ChatGPT for real-time system prompts and uses Google Machine Learning to enhance data accuracy.
These are only two of the many outstanding solutions that have emerged from the TCS’ goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition that challenges students in STEM worldwide to design technology solutions as a force for good. Students develop prototypes of digital innovations with intentions aligned with the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). This competition is a part of TCS’ flagship go Innovate Together (goIT) programme which completed 15 years in 2024.
The no-cost digital innovation and career readiness programme equips students from diverse backgrounds with future-ready skills, inspiring them to become innovators while helping them solve societal problems.
Since its launch in 2009, goIT has positively impacted 3,51,078 students in its growing presence across 51 countries. In FY 2025 goIT empowered 81,374 students across 50 countries to apply 21st century skills and latest technologies like AI, IoT, and App Design to solve real-world problems in their community with 51% of these students being girls and 79% from underrepresented minorities.
Says Joseph Sunil Nallapalli, Global Head, CSR, TCS, “We believe that 21st-century education should empower learners to become creators of change. In today’s world, these skills are foundational, forming the basis of both personal growth and societal progress.”
Ignite My Future
While goIT enables students as their primary attendees, Ignite My Future, another of TCS’ STEM programmes empowers educators. Through a transdisciplinary approach that integrates Computational Thinking into core subjects like mathematics, science, art, and social studies, the programme aims to enable young people to acquire future-ready skills like computational thinking, to stay abreast, create avenues for new jobs, and explore possibilities for economic equity.
Says Mr Nallapalli, “Through goIT, young minds apply emerging technologies to real-world challenges, while IMF equips educators to view everyday learning through the lens of Computational Thinking.”
For example, In Latin America, IMF partnered with Clubes de Ciencia México, an NGO committed to encouraging young minds to pursue STEM careers through hands-on science workshops led by graduate and doctoral students.
As part of this collaboration, IMF provided specialised training to all 87 instructors, equipping them with computational thinking strategies to enhance curriculum design of their workshops. This approach ensured that students developed analytical skills while gaining scientific knowledge.
Additionally, IMF facilitated meaningful connections between students and TCS volunteers, through complex STEM challenges designed to promote teamwork and problem-solving. In total, 708 students benefited from this partnership in FY 2025.
Since its inception in 2017, IMF has enhanced the lives of over 2.59 million teachers and students around the world. In FY 2025, the IMF programme empowered 5,857 teachers to inculcate computational thinking while equipping 2,66,966 students across 6 continents with foundational skills for the AI era.
“Together, these initiatives nurture a generation of inclusive innovators, strengthen community ties, and reaffirm TCS’ enduring commitment to equitable, long-term social impact,” says Mr Nallapalli. “Given the scale of opportunity in this space, collaboration among like-minded organisations holds the power to shape a better, more inclusive world.”
