Microsoft and Rotary brings technology skills to 150 schools in Delhi NCR

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Microsoft India and Rotary International District 3010 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide the Microsoft IT Academy Program in 150 Delhi NCR schools covering over 150,000 students and 7,500 educators.

Microsoft IT Academy is a subscription-based program designed for accredited academic institutions worldwide. It empowers educators to help students hone their skills and recognize their career potential through relevant and high quality technology training resources.

The program's resources include online learning content, official Microsoft course materials, curricula, learning management system and instructor tools. Further, each school gets access to student and faculty certifications to train educators to use world-class curriculum in their classrooms.

The curricula spans computer basics to high-level programming including Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio and other application development tools.

Karan Bajwa, managing director, Microsoft India, said:"Providing Indian youth with 21st century skills and knowledge is critical in helping them succeed in an increasingly connected world. Our MoU with Rotary International District 3010 is a step in providing these skills to 150,000 school students in Delhi through the Microsoft IT Academy Program. As per industry estimates, 50 percent of today's jobs require some degree of technology skills and this will increase to 77 percent in the next decade. At Microsoft, we are committed to partnering with governments, academic institutions and not-for-profit organizations to enable Indian youth through our education focused programs."

Microsoft IT Academies around the world are helping prepare students, create successful schools and strengthen communities.

"By collaborating with Microsoft, we are able to provide a roadmap to technology proficiency and industry-recognized Microsoft certification credentials that are not only well aligned to Rotary's goal of 100 percent literacy by 2017 but go a step further to provide Digital Literacy skills. We hope to spread this initiative to the rest of the country, as well as globally, over a period of time," said Rtn Sanjay Khanna, district governor, Rotary International District 3010.

Rotary International District 3010 has undertaken to sponsor over 150 schools in this joint initiative with Microsoft. This is Rotary International District 3010's contribution to the students in Delhi NCR and help them attain skills to succeed in the 21st Century global economy.