January 24 marks the United Nations International Day of Education. We recognize the day at Cummins by celebrating the impact of Cummins TEC: Technical Education for Communities and appreciating the significant impact access to quality of education has on all aspects of society. Launched in 2012, Cummins TEC is committed to transforming lives through technical vocational education. 

Cummins TEC trains disadvantaged youth in employable skills to gain good jobs. More than 1,700 students have graduated from Cummins TEC since the program’s inception. Eighty percent of them secure good jobs with wages that far exceed the average living wage in most Cummins TEC school countries. The program operates at 24 schools in 14 countries.

"Technicians are a crucial part of how the distribution business serves customers, and we feel privileged to have a role in training the next generation. This career path has a lot to offer with many of our senior leaders starting their careers as technicians,” said Peter Jensen-Muir, Executive Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region.

Three graduates from WesTEC, Cummins TEC’s partner school in Brisbane, Queensland, share Jensen-Muir’s belief in the opportunities this program affords. 

Ty Lynn (left, standing with his manager in front of a recently serviced vehicle) credits Cummins TEC for giving him a welcome challenge at a time when he was struggling to stay motivated in school. While many of his friends could not find work after graduation, he says his job in the technical field is setting him up for life. 

Tony Carter (left) didn’t start in the Cummins TEC program with much technical experience but has always had a passion for pulling things apart to see how they work. He is on his way to his dream job of being a heavy vehicle mechanic. Declan Upton (right) grew up in a family of tradesmen and truck drivers and knew he wanted to be a technician. He’s learned to think about things in different ways thanks to Cummins TEC. He says the best part of his job is finding and fixing problems. 

COVID school closings and virtual learning have temporarily reduced class sizes and graduations. The program hopes to be back on track with previous growth, expanding by about two new school programs a year and new student cohorts in existing schools.

On October 11, the world celebrates International Day of the Girl, a time to recognize the challenges girls face around the world and raise our hands to help create transformational change. Women and girls are half the talent and potential in our communities; when girls rise up and succeed, so do entire communities. While we celebrate the incredible ongoing achievements of so many women and girls, this year we must also recognize how events such as the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affect women and girls. We must maintain focus so that we don’t lose valuable ground. 

When COVID-19 struck, our Cummins Powers Women partners shifted quickly to address new and urgent problems, including the troubling increase in domestic violence, new educational and childcare needs from children suddenly at home and access to safety equipment. Young women trained through our grant with Camfed in Ghana and Zambia are sharing COVID-19 prevention information with their communities. Rise Up deftly transitioned a globally-recognized and scalable model of in-person training to its first virtual training for women advocates in a Delhi leadership accelerator. Girls Inc., our U.S. partner, creatively engaged students in online platforms to accelerate the advancement of  “strong, smart and bold” girls. And, Girls Academy in Australia closely connected with girls at home to ensure each continued to reach for their personal educational attainment goals. These are but a few examples of the ingenuity of our Cummins Powers Women partners around the world in the face of crisis. 

Cummins employees have been right there with them. More than 1,500 employees have signed up to be Cummins Powers Women ambassadors, formalizing their personal commitment to make change in support of gender equality. Our ambassadors represent 40 different countries around the world and volunteered more than 1,900 hours in 2019 with our eight global nonprofit partners. 

Many of our Cummins Powers Women Ambassadors have organized internal events around International Day of the Girl. Open to all employees and their families, these events include opportunities to write digital children’s books for youth with learning challenges that focus on educational attainment and economic empowerment. Several regions are also holding virtual panel discussions with Cummins leaders, during which children will have a chance to ask questions about their career paths and learn more about roles at Cummins.   

This International Day of the Girl, work with Cummins, our Cummins Powers Women partners, on your own or with others around you to reaffirm your commitment to gender equity. When women prosper, the whole world prospers.  

Interested in learning more about how your company or organization can get involved with gender equality efforts?

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The following was authored by Avril Schutte, Global Programs and Engagement Director, Cummins Inc. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant obstacles and changes to global education. UNESCO estimates that school closures have affected almost 70% of the world’s student population, a staggering 1.2 billion learners. The challenges that many people face in schooling children at home are amplified in disadvantaged communities where infrastructure and support for remote learning are lacking. Cummins employees are hard at work on reducing these hurdles for the most vulnerable in our communities.

When the pandemic first struck, schools closed around the world to keep staff and students safe. Teachers and governments had to adapt quickly to teaching methods for which many had not been trained. The challenges to remote learning began immediately: some students have no computers at home, while others have computers but no Internet access. As schools shifted to delivering content through television, radio or print materials, those, too, did not reach every student. The New York Times reports that, "By September, most students will have fallen behind where they would have been if they had stayed in classrooms, with some losing the equivalent of a full school years’ worth of academic gains."

In addition, students miss out on the nutrition programs offered in school and the personal connection to teachers and peers. Students will need emotional support to cope with months of isolation, often while families experienced health care and economic hardships.

The data suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic will have an enormous effect on student learning across the world, but students in low-income countries and in sub-Saharan Africa will be the most negatively affected. In these countries, governments have been less able to provide remote learning opportunities and guidance to teachers to address student learning needs during the crisis, according to the Brookings Institute.

Cummins recognizes the serious problems remote learning is causing in our communities. Ignacio Garcia, Vice President Latin America ABO, shared that in his region, “The closure of schools has impacted children’s lives in a very profound way. Many of the students will stay behind because of a lack of hardware and connectivity. Sadly, many of the skills required in the future are related to interaction between individuals that the current environment is not giving the opportunity to develop and learn."

Our employees are helping to bolster these connections and bridge the digital divide. Initially, our employees focused on immediate basic needs around the world, such as helping to address the hunger crisis. Now, they are working with community partners to deliver emergency grants in support of urgent learning needs. For example:

• In Botswana, a Cummins grant is providing food and learning resources to 280 families in need.
• In the United States, a Cummins grant is distributing learning packets, books and supplies to school age students.
• In the United Kingdom, a Cummins grant supports 150 children with remote learning materials.

Additionally, Cummins has partnered with multiple businesses in Indianapolis, Indiana (U.S.A.), to launch an E-Learning Fund to support public student access to remote learning.

Srikanth Padmanabhan, Vice President and President – Engine Business, expressed his concern that "schools are now grappling with multiple struggles due to the COVID pandemic, including Internet connectivity, food distribution, mental health services, adaptation of new technologies, sanitization guidelines and more. These times call for all of us to work together to support our schools and each other. When schools reopen, I am confident that we, as Cummins employees, will adapt our volunteering to match these evolving and truly unprecedented needs."

To supplement the grants designed to improve access to educational materials, our employees are also volunteering their time to improve the personal connections and support for students that are often lacking during remote learning. These critical factors play a large role in increasing the number of students who return to school. I am inspired to see the many ways our employees are engaging with educators to keep learning interesting, including in:

• Australia, where Cummins and Komatsu employees gathered on Zoom to welcome the Cummins TEC: Technical Education for Communities students back to the classroom. Employees have increased their engagement with two virtual platforms that allow them to provide tutoring to students.
• Mexico, where Diego Medina, Cummins Care Coordinator, and the principal of two primary schools in La Pila (a disadvantaged community near San Luis Potosi), launched a five-week challenge over social media to engage students.
• United States, where Karen Ramsey-Idem, Global Technical Operations Leader, and a team of Cummins volunteers have transitioned the Girls Inc. summer STEM program from in person to virtual.

We know that each of Cummins’ global communities will return to school with a unique set of challenges. Some may limit in-person attendance and continue to rely on remote learning for a longer time. Some will return with new guidance for sharing school supplies safely and how to space desks according to social distancing. However the return to school happens, Cummins and our employees remain committed to engaging with schools in our communities to ensure students learn and thrive, whether that’s from home or from a new environment they’ve yet to experience.

In line with the company’s continued commitment to building more prosperous communities, the Cummins Foundation recently issued a grant to the Immigrant Welcome Center (IWC) to provide support services to Indianapolis-based immigrant populations in the wake of COVID-19. 

IWC empowers immigrants in the Indianapolis, Indiana, area by connecting them to people, places and resources that enable them to build successful lives in the community. This mission is supported by volunteers, referred to as natural helpers. Natural helpers are immigrants themselves who provide first-hand guidance to new immigrants and refugees on how best to transition into life in Indianapolis and the U.S. generally. IWC has trained almost 200 natural helpers over the past 13 years. The organization currently has 60 active volunteers representing 28 countries and 29 languages. 

Cummins has had a relationship with IWC for several years. Cummins leaders have sat on the organization’s board; employees have volunteered at the organization’s events and Cummins has hosted IWC to present Immigration 101 lunch and learn sessions to employees. In 2018, IWC received support from the Cummins Foundation for its Immigrant Integration Plan, which created task forces to make Indianapolis a more welcoming community for immigrants. 

With the help of the Cummins Foundation, IWC will be able to enlist seven volunteers from the pool of natural helpers to conduct virtual wellness checks that connect immigrant populations to necessary resources and services considering the current pandemic. These natural helper specialists will communicate with the target populations in their native languages to: better explain safety protocols; offer support with schooling for children if needed; and specify how they can access masks, food banks and other such services at this time. They will also play a vital role in connecting non-English speakers with rental assistance and other programs that play an important role in the wellbeing of their families. IWC hopes that these wellness checks will reveal the gaps facing the target populations during the pandemic and inform how the organization can serve them better. 

"COVID-19 has had a big impact on public health and the economy here in Indiana. Effectively communicating helpful information to the immigrant community, specifically Hispanics, is a gap," said one of the enlisted natural helper specialists. "This program serves to bridge that gap and connect them with needed resources," the specialist added. 

Learn more about IWC and its work to enrich the Indianapolis community.