Lucknow, August 26, 2021: Committed to democratize education for all, Microsoft India along with Ernst & Young and Elets Technomedia today launched the first edition of the Education Innovation Summit. The Education Innovation Summit seeks to bring together education influencers and ministers across India to facilitate a dialogue on education transformation in the country, using technology to create a future-forward and equitable learning ecosystem.
Educators around the world are using the power of technology to drive greater student-teacher engagement, promote newer ways of learning, and transform the learning experience for students. The Summit will open a dialogue on the role of technology to transform education, improve learning outcomes and better prepare students across India for the new world of work.
The first leg of the Summit was hosted today in Uttar Pradesh. Education influencers and public sector officials across the state came together to discuss the need for transforming every classroom across the state into a modern virtual classroom, helping students get a world-class education irrespective of geographical and linguistic barriers or accessibility needs. Anchoring these discussions, Microsoft shared its commitment to partner with the state, making available the technology and tools required to accelerate digital equity, empowering learners and educators to achieve more.
Addressing the Summit, Satish Chandra Dwivedi, Minister of Basic Education, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, said, “A major chunk of our students and parents do not have access to technology, they don’t have smartphone, PCs or tablets. As such, the major challenge is how to we reach them so they could access quality education. We have been working with Microsoft for a while. We look forward to partnering with Microsoft for driving equitable learning and driving greater reach to online education among the students across the state.”
Speaking at the Summit, Kumar Vineet, Special Secretary, Department of IT and Electronics & Managing Director, UPDESCO and Sheetron India Ltd, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, said, “Primary education and IT education are big focus areas for us in U.P. Tech innovation is quintessential to make education accessible, especially in rural parts of the state where connectivity is a challenge. Microsoft isn’t just an organization but a movement, and we have all evolved with it in the world of tech. We would like Microsoft to intervene in enabling the tech infrastructure where the intervention is simple so that it reaches grassroot levels in a seamless and easy manner so that even 2G and 3G connectivity can be assimilated.”
Navtez Bal, Executive Director, Public Sector, Microsoft India, said, “The education ecosystem in India demonstrated tremendous agility and resilience during the pandemic. Technology helped maintain learning continuity, playing a central role in enabling this resilience. The tech opportunity in education is clear-technology will play a central role in ensuring equitable access to skills and opportunity for students across the country, empowering them for a digital future. We are honored to launch the Education Innovation Summit in Uttar Pradesh, a state that is actively innovating and embracing technology-led development. We look forward to working closely with the state government to redefine the teaching and learning experience in the state with technology at the center.”
Dialogue at the event spanned a host of subjects including bridging the digital learning divide, bringing the National Education Policy 2020 to life, the role of information and communications technology training at schools to lay the foundation for the future of learning and a Microsoft Technology Center showcase of the modern digital classroom in action.
Microsoft is deeply invested in the digital transformation of the education ecosystem in India and has been working closely with central and state governments to upskill citizens and deliver technology that accelerates their digital success.
