When the whole world locked in the home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, traditional classroom teaching isn’t a viable option. E-learning is need of the hour. But let’s be honest here, neither India’s infrastructure nor the teacher are trained enough to carry out such an operation nationwide. That’s why Google is partnering with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to train teachers.
Google announced this in Google for India 2020 online event. Where they said that Google would enable 1 million teachers in 22,000 schools to deliver “blended learning,” a combination of online learning and a classroom approach, by the end of this year.
Google will also provide a $1 million grant to the Kaivalya Education Foundation (KEF) through the Global Distance Learning Fund. This grant will be used to empower over 700,000 teachers over the next year to deliver virtual education and learning from home.
Google will provide tools like G Suite for Education, YouTube, Google Classroom, and more to train teachers in offering a blended learning experience. Google further adds that it will attempt to reach students that do not own a smartphone or lack Internet services using other mediums such as radio and TV.
Google isn’t the only tech company that is partnering with CBSE. Facebook also recently announced a partnership with CBSE to launch a certified curriculum on online well-being and digital safety, as well as augmented reality (AR) for students and educators in India.