Microsoft opens third IT academy in Karnataka

BANGALORE: Microsoft Corporation India launched its third IT academy in Karnataka.

R Ramalinga Reddy, Karnataka's minister for primary & secondary education, inaugurated the new academy here.

"Computer training is presently being imparted to 1238 high school teachers and 765 primary school teachers in Karnataka. The Central Government has approved imparting computer training to 480 more high schools and funds have been released for this purpose, and tenders are also being invited,” said Reddy.

Rohit Kumar, country head, Public Sector, Microsoft Corporation India Private Limited amongst other senior bureaucrats and educationists was present at the inaugural function.

The academy is part of the MoU signed in November 2004 between Microsoft and Karnataka Government for the implementation of the Microsoft Partners-in-Learning (PiL) program. This is aimed at accelerating IT literacy amongst government schoolteachers and students in the state.

The MoU entailed the setting-up of three IT Academy centers in Karnataka. Besides the Bangalore Academy, the two other centers are located in Gulbarga and Dharwad. Microsoft has committed to train over 20,000 teachers and 400,000 students (from class III to class XII) in Karnataka over a five-year period. Till date, more than 2500 teachers have been trained at the two academies.

The three Microsoft IT centers are expected to train 3000 high school teachers each year. After five years, these three Microsoft Academies will be handed over to the State government.