Microsoft to invest $20 mn in Project Shiksha

New Delhi, Jun 4: Microsoft, the leading software maker is planning to invest 20 million dollar over next five years for its 'Partners in Learning' (PiL) programme in the country. ''We will invest 240 million dollars globally over the next five years for our Partners in Learning programme. Of this, about 20 million dollars will come to India,'' Microsoft Corporation Senior Vice President Jean-Philippe Courtois told reporters here.

The programme, a part of Microsoft's CSR activities, is aimed at training teachers and using softwares to provide education. The programme 'Project Shiksha' has already trained 2,40,000 teachers in IT skills and aims to train another 50,000 teachers in the next year.

''A similar investment was announced in 2003 when the project was announced and touched 10 states. This time, we expect the number to go up,'' Microsoft India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan said.

The firm also launched a portal www.indiashiksha.com to connect the global teaching community. The contents of the website will be provided by the teachers and will be beneficial to the teaching community and the students.

UNI