Microsoft Pledges $20 Million for Indian Education
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Microsoft India announced (yesterday) a renewed investment of USD 20 million in the education space over the next five years. The company has also renewed its commitment to the India chapter of Partners in Learning, its global program that provides the education community with resources and training that can allow students, teachers and institutions to reach their full potential. Microsoft’s stated mission for education is to empower people to realize their social and economic potential by enabling access to quality education experiences for all through technology.
In India, the first phase of Partners in Learning so far has been Project Shiksha – which has created a unique milestone by training more than 240,000 government school teachers between 2003 and now.
In the next phase of Partners in Learning in India, Microsoft will aim to address national education priorities by partnering with governments and introducing a focus on three core programs: Innovative Teachers, Innovative Students and Innovative Schools.
1) Innovative Teachers will aim to provide educators with tools, forums and resources that build communities of practice, support collaboration and access to quality content, and challenge them to integrate ICT into teaching and learning in a meaningful way. The flagship program, Project Shiksha, will continue to impart IT training to teachers and educators. The immediate aim will be to train another 50,000 teachers in IT skills in the next year.
Since an important element of Partners in Learning is connecting the global teaching community, Microsoft today also launched the www.indiashiksha.com portal to enable Indian teachers and educators to connect to this network.
2) Innovative Students will empower students to use ICT in their schoolwork and learning. Microsoft will work with governments, NGOs and other partners to provide affordable, reliable software for primary and secondary school students, giving underserved students access to computing platforms for education.
3) Innovative Schools is a brand new initiative focusing on the school model for India, facilitated with research and evaluation. It will provide schools, governments and partners with resources, training, expertise and technology blueprints that help better prepare students for life and work.
Microsoft has also been involved with developing low cost PC’s by offering a simplified, ‘spruced down’ XP. The Partners in Learning and the Low Cost PC is yet another interpretation to the ‘Computing for the Next Billion’ vision followed by Novatium.
Interestingly, this is something that even Kal Raman (coming soon on WATShow) hinted at – his GlobalScholar Plan for India looked at integrating technologies to create better learning solutions, train teachers at some level, and also integrate parents to create integrated ‘richer’ learning solutions at the grassroot.
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