Union Tribal Affairs Ministry Partners With Microsoft To Skill School Students In Tech Including Artificial Intelligence

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MTA) on Monday (17 May) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Microsoft to support the digital transformation of schools such as Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) and Ashram Schools, among others under the Ministry at an online event ‘Empowering Youth For Success’.

Under affirmative action initiative, Microsoft will make curriculum available to tribal students in both English and Hindi at all EMRS schools under the Ministry to skill educators and students in next-generation technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Under this program in the first phase, 250 EMRS schools have been adopted by Microsoft out of which 50 EMRS schools will be given intensive training and 500 master trainers would be trained in the first phase.

Teachers across India will be trained in a phased manner for using productivity technologies like Office 365 and AI applications in teaching, helping them deliver blended or remote learning experiences to students in a more personalized, productive and secure manner.

Teacher training will introduce them to the world of virtual collaboration and how teaching can be augmented with virtual field trips or remote sessions with experts. The program will also offer opportunities for teachers to earn professional e-badges and e-certificates from the Microsoft Education Centre.

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

Students will also be trained and exposed to gamified environments on Minecraft to help build design thinking skills. To enable inclusion and access, Microsoft will make AI curriculum available to the schools and students in both English and Hindi.