IT academy for teacher training

Microsoft Corporation India Private Limited on Sunday announced the launch of its second IT academy in the state. Located at Dharwad, the IT academy, will serve a pivotal point in imparting IT training to teachers across the state.

The IT academy launch is a key deliverable of the MoU signed between Microsoft and Government of Karnataka, for implementation of Microsoft's partners-in-learning program for accelerating IT literacy amongst government school teachers and students in the state.

Under the MoU with the government of Karnataka, Microsoft has committed to set up three IT academy centres in the state at Gulbarga, Bangalore and Dharwad for training over 20,000 teachers and 4 lakh students (from class III to class XII) over a period of five years.

The Dharwad IT academy is located at the Institute for Education & Training (DIET) Campus, deputy Channabassappa Nagar covering an area of 2,000 sq ft. R Ramalinga Reddy, minister for primary & secondary education inaugurated the academy on Sunday.

The IT academy is a world class facility equipped with a state-of-the-art IT lab with latest hardware and software, a comprehensive IT curriculum and well-trained staff for effective delivery of IT training for school teachers. The overall infrastructure includes two classrooms, a meeting room, a library, a cafeteria and DG power backup supply.

Additionally the IT training courseware has been translated in Kannada for ensuring improved understanding of content by teachers.

Microsoft will also run a 12 day training programme free of cost for participating teachers to equip them to use technology in teaching students in a classroom environment.

Elaborating on Microsoft's vision for IT education, Sudev Muthya, director, enterprise & partner group, Microsoft Corporation India said apart from setting up of the IT academy centres in the state, the MoU between Microsoft and the Government of Karnataka for Microsoft's partners-in-learning program entails creation of a IT curriculum in the local language for students, rolling-out of teacher and student scholarships programs and setting up of a teachers' portal.