Tribal Affairs Ministry, Microsoft sign MoU for digital transformation of Tribal Schools

The Tribal Affairs Ministry on May 17, 2021 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Microsoft to support the digital transformation of Tribal schools such as Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) and Ashram Schools.

The MoU was signed at an online event ‘Empowering Youth For Success’. Under the initiative, Microsoft will make the Artificial Intelligence curriculum available to tribal students in both English and Hindi language at all EMRS schools under the Ministry to skill educators and students in next-generation technologies.

Significance

•This program is expected to prove beneficial in terms of readiness, preparedness of the students of the schools at various international forums.

•The students will get the required skill set through these digital programmes, which is expected to open a new chapter with AI and coding being a part of the curriculum.

•The programme is expected to help bridge the gap between the tribal students and others. It will also offer the tribal students a unique opportunity to get global standard education.
 
•The initiative will also help the tribal students in maintaining continuity in their education in this lockdown period. Along with students, 5000 teachers nominated by the ministry across these schools would also be provided with professional training.

Key Highlights

•Under the first phase of the programme, Microsoft has adopted 250 EMRS schools out of which 50 EMRS schools will be given intensive training and 500 master trainers would be trained.

•Teachers across India will also be trained in a phased manner for using productivity technologies like Office 365 and AI applications in teaching.

•It will help them deliver blended or remote learning experiences to students in a more personalized and productive manner. 

•These teacher trainings will introduce them to the world of virtual collaboration and teach them how to augment teaching process. 

•The program will also give teachers opportunities to earn professional e-badges and e-certificates from the Microsoft Education Centre.

•Under the partnership, the students from the tribal schools under the Tribal Affairs Ministry will be mentored on projects that involve AI applications for societal good and to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

•The students will also be exposed to gamified environments on Minecraft to help build design thinking skills