Intel to focus on India's education sector

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Intel will be focusing on the education sector in India and will be exploring usage of technology in academia.

Talking to CyberMedia News here, Robert B Crooke, vice president and general manager of business client group at Intel Corporation, said that the company will be training 14 million teachers on 21st century teaching methods by 2011. “We will be focusing on using technology in education. For this, Intel will be investing $100 million every year for exploring technology usage in education,” he informed.

Elaborating further, Crooke said the investment would be used for teacher training and using technology in the K-12 classrooms in India, apart from developing teaching strategies.

“However, some criticalities still remain in implementing the project. These include access to technology, availability of purpose-built platforms, and connectivity in the classroom. The usage of technology will be in the teaching methods that lay importance on analytical skills rather than memorizing skills. It will also change teaching methodologies and creating great content,” he said.

As for the purpose-built platforms for education, Crooke referred to the Classmate PC pilot project in India, whereby sturdy notebooks are custom-built to be used in K-12 students in India. The PC has a better battery stand-by and is WiFi read.

“We are also collaborating with university researchers/academicians from around the world on carrying out research on semiconductor process, manufacturing and multi-core computing. Our focus is more in India as it is the biggest block in the Asian region after China, Vietnam and Korea,” Crooke added.

In 2000, Intel’s chairman, Craig Barrett decided to expand its teacher training program from US, and Intel Teach was born. Based on research and developed by teachers with expertise in curriculum development for teachers, Intel Teach is provided at no cost to elementary and secondary school teachers around the world.

Intel Teach uses a ‘train the trainer’ model to provide both face-to-face and online instruction to help teachers around the world integrate technology into their classrooms. Teachers create lesson plans that meet local and national education goals and standards. Intel works with governments – national, regional or local – worldwide, to introduce the program in countries and communities, which are selected based on the strength of their commitment to the program.

Intel then works with an initial group of teachers to help them become Intel Teach trainers themselves. These trainers in turn are responsible for sharing their new skills with other teachers in their region.

Intel believes that investing in education will enable all students, everywhere, deserve to have the tools they need to become the next generation of innovators. From local schools to global universities, Intel works to help improve the quality of education around the world. Over the past decade alone, Intel has invested more than $1 billion in cash and in-kind contributions to help teachers teach, students learn and universities innovate – particularly in the areas of math, science and technology.