Along with Project Shiksha under the Unlimited Potential Programme, Microsoft India has already signed closed to 10 MoUs with Government, trained 160,000 teachers, runs eight IT academies across India, reaches out to over 8 mn students...
Ram Narayanan, Director, Unlimited Potential Group, Microsoft India speaks out to digital LEARNING about building this ecosystem stronger in education.
Could you tell us about Microsoft’s education programmes in India? How is India different as a playing field in promoting greater use of technology in education and how is Microsoft contributing to it?
At Microsoft, we firmly believe that people form the most important economic resource for the knowledge economy. Sustaining high growth requires a vibrant local economy which in turn can only develop and thrive if the required talent pool exists. Microsoft Unlimited Potential was launched recently with one of its core focuses being talent and capability building. We are partnering with local governments, NGOs, educators, community and business leaders to build the ecosystem by catalysing communities to help improve lives and provide access to transformational technologies. It is our strong belief that India currently stands at the threshold of a bigger technological boom.
The country has lagged behind in producing high end IT talent owing to a distinct lack of an overall robust education system which is critical for defining success in the knowledge economy. Microsoft India has ‘Project Shiksha’ under the Unlimited Potential programme, which has been designed to deliver affordable software solutions, comprehensive training and curriculum leadership for students and teachers in government schools. Close to 10 MoUs have already been signed with the government and we have around 8 IT academies running successfully across India. We have also trained 160,000 teachers under the programme and reached out to over 8 million students.
We recently launched the Connected Education framework called IQ in India with the pilot of an education PC and an online service on MSN to target the educational needs of young students. The USP of the IQ programme is the variety of educational content and services offered. Every PC will be sold with 100 hours of free broadband for users to access the content. It is essentially a combination of an offline content tied into all aspects of a student’s learning growth.
How does Microsoft address student and teacher issues separately? What are the hindrances in the way of taking technology to classrooms on a wider scale?
Microsoft’s initiatives are aimed at building capabilities through teacher training. The key issue with teachers is that of gaining a comfort factor in using technology tools for teaching purposes. We work with them in overcoming the high degree of hesitation that exists particularly in the initial phases of training.
On the student side, our innovative products such as IQ PC and developing innovative technology such as MultiPoint are aimed at helping more students gain access to technology. We’ve also launched a project called Digital Study Hall (DSH) that seeks to improve educational opportunities in urban and rural low-income areas. Live classes, taught by skilled teachers in local schools, are digitally recorded, made into DVDs, and transmitted. The teachers’ lessons are stored in a worldwide database, where they can be then sent to schools that need them. Our first DSH pilot has been operating in India since the summer of 2005. Today, we operate three hubs in Lucknow, Bangalore and Pune. As of the spring of 2007, we have accumulated about 500 DVD-quality recordings of lessons staged by the best teachers at the hubs. The languages used in the content include Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and English. As the content is quickly and cheaply generated, it is being continuously pushed out to a variety of underserved rural and urban pilot schools around the hubs.
The major hindrances in the spread of technology to schools are low level of exposure to PCs and an even lower level of broadband penetration. Apart from these, dearth of relevant content is also posing a challenge.
What do you think is India’s biggest challenge in terms of getting to the next level in education? How can the private sector contribute?
India is emerging as an important economic and intellectual centre in the world today. The country’s biggest asset is the strong talent base. Research has shown that education in India takes second position after food in the spend hierarchy, with clothing and housing following it. Despite the country having a global advantage of having a skilled talent pool, especially in the IT industry, there is a clear disparity in the supply of skilled professionals vis-à-vis demand. An escalating industry concern is the lack of an adequate skilled workforce; with NASSCOM predicting a 500,000 shortfall by 2010. The gaps identified are lack of technology capability to compete at a global level, lack of good quality technical institutions/infrastructure, dearth of trained faculty as well as low level of access to technology.
It’s a known fact that the ICT sector is the creator of jobs for knowledge professionals. So it becomes imperative for players like us to develop an in-depth understanding of the prevailing scenario and develop programmes that will correspond well with the topical issues that the industry faces.
What are you personally most proud of with the launch and progress of the products and programmes like IQ PC and the information portal?
Microsoft has had an intense focus from our early days in helping empower generations of people worldwide in realising their full potential. In India, our programmes like Shiksha, Jyoti and Bhasha have had real impact in helping transform the way people learn, work and get access to information. There is still an immense scope for technology to play a transformational role in helping people, especially those in the middle and bottom of the pyramid who are as yet unexposed to the powers of technology. As we look ahead, new and innovative programmes like IQ will help build a new generation of technology savvy people who can help impact the economic growth of India in a very positive way.
How are Microsoft’s education programmes different from those launched by other corporates?
Microsoft’s has a holistic approach to education with an entire range of education and empowerment initiatives targeted at the needs of various communities from those of primary to higher education and adult learning. Our India education initiatives are aligned towards achieving the goal of building technology capacity within student communities, academia and institutions in collaboration with the government.
As a part of its worldwide Unlimited Potential Programme, which aims to bring the power of technology to the next billion people globally by 2015, Microsoft India has launched IQ PC to specifically target the educational needs of young students.
Another example of how we have impacted people’s lives through technology is Project Jyoti. In this programme we engage with NGOs to equip and impart basic technology skills training to underserved communities that empower them to explore sustainable livelihood options leading to individual, community and economic empowerment.
What is Microsoft’s take on fostering local innovation in India?
Innovation at Microsoft India spans across all the six business units present in
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