Microsoft inks IT pact with Uttaranchal

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 08 August 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Microsoft India on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Uttaranchal government for the roll-out of project 'Shiksha.' The MoU, being the first in a series of similar partnerships planned by Microsoft, underlines a joint commitment by Microsoft and the state government towards accelerating IT literacy in the state. The MoU will entail the setting up and running of a Microsoft IT academy centre at Dehradun to facilitate teacher training, formulation and implementation of a comprehensive teacher training programme, creation of localised IT curriculum, rolling-out of teacher and student scholarships and setting up of a teachers portal. Uttaranchal CM ND Tewari, education minister Narendra Singh Bhandari and Microsoft India MD, Rajiv Kaul were present. “We believe that IT has unlimited potential in adding value to the education process that exists today, both in terms of course delivery as well as content. This belief underlines our flagship initiative ‘Project Aarohi’ whereby we are providing IT education and training to students, teachers, government employees and other technical departments. Our MoU with Microsoft for Project Shiksha today is another significant step in this direction. We are confident that initiatives like these will contribute tremendously towards accelerating IT literacy in the state and make Uttaranchal a model for other states to follow,” Tewari said.