Microsoft to set up IT Academy in AP

HYDERABAD: By March 2004, Microsoft project Shiksha will kick start in Andhra Pradesh. The five-year project aims to accelerate the pace of IT literacy among the teachers and the students in the state. In collaboration with the AP Department of School Education, Microsoft will set up an IT academy, which will further design curriculum in IT beginning from class III to intermediate.

The MoU to the effect was signed with the Government of AP earlier this month, informed Principal Secretary to AP Government (School Education) Dr I V Subba Rao. The project coming close on the heels of 'Teach to the Future' by Intel - which is on in the state since last one-and-a-half years -- Rao expects that it will lead to 100 percent IT literacy for about three lakh teachers in the state.

A staunch supporter of computer-aided education Rao believes accelerating the IT literacy will further the objective. "It will take a couple of months to set up the IT Academy. The plans for the Academy include providing scholarship programs for the students and teachers and setting up a portal specifically to encourage collaboration and information sharing across the teaching community," said Rao.

The project approximately costing $15 million- $20 million is the second such project for Microsoft. The software company had earlier signed a MoU with the Uttranchal government for the same project.

(CyberMedia News Service)