After Facebook, Google partners with CBSE to promote online education in India

NEW DELHI: At its Google For India event, held virtually on Monday, the tech major announced new initiatives for driving education in India. The company will partner Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to digitise classrooms across the country.

Google said it will work with CBSE Skill Education and Training by the end of 2020 to allow close to one million teachers in 22,000 schools in India to "deliver blended learning that combines the classroom approach with online learning."

The company will provide its software like G Suite for Education, Google Classroom, YouTube and more to allow such digitisation. G Suite for Education includes Google’s usual tools, like Google Docs, Sheets and more. It also includes ways for teachers to give assignments to students and use Google Forms.

The company will also provide a $1 million grant to the Kaivalya Education Foundation (KEF) through the Global Distance Learning Fund that is part of Google.org, aimed at helping teachers deliver virtual education to students in the country. Google says the initiative "empowers" 700,000 teachers over the next year to deliver virtual education and learning from home.

It will partner public broadcasting agency, Prasar Bharti, for an edutainment series meant for small and medium-sized businesses in the country. It’s worth noting that Google sells Chromebook laptops worldwide, which have largely been driven towards schools and educational institutions.

Google also announced a ₹75,000 crore (approximately $10 billion) Google for India Digitisation Fund today. The fund will be invested in the country over the next five to seven years and is separate from the $1 million investment from Google.org mentioned above.

“We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnership investments, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy,” said Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google and Alphabet.

Google isn’t the only company investing in India’s education sector though. Fellow Silicon Valley giant Facebook, had also announced a partnership with CBSE to launch a certified curriculum on digital safety, online well being and augmented reality for students in the country.