Google CEO and Ivanka Trump announce plan to teach workers tech skills

Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday unveiled an initiative to provide 250,000 training opportunities over the next five years for Americans to learn technology skills. Pichai made the announcement with Ivanka Trump at a round table event in Dallas. 

Pichai also said Google will sign the Pledge to America's Workers, an effort by the White House to "expand programs that educate, train and reskill American workers from high-school age to near-retirement." He also said Google's program for certifying IT professionals will expand to 100 US community colleges by the end of 2020.

"The certificate is a pathway to an entry-level job in the fast growing well paying field of IT support," Pichai said at the event. 

Trump said the idea is to also allow people who are in mid-career to change course and learn a new trade. "Our goal, through this pledge, is to fill those opportunities with the next generation of talent," she said.

Two years ago, the search giant announced its Grow with Google initiative and pledged $1 billion to help prepare workers for tech jobs. 

The partnership with the White House comes as Google has also been under intense scrutiny from the federal government. The Department of Justice is investigating the search giant for possible anticompetitive behavior. President Donald Trump has also accused Google of having an anticonservative bias, calling the company's search results "rigged."

In March, President Trump said he met with Pichai to discuss, among other things, "political fairness."