Microsoft extends educational programme

Abu Dhabi— Microsoft announced a renewed commitment over the next five years to Partners in Learning, a programme that provides the education community with resources and training to help students in their education.

Through Partners in Learning, Microsoft hopes to use software to create educational experiences that remove limitations, create opportunities, and bring students and teachers closer.

Today's announcement represents a new, five-year, $235.5 million investment, and will bring the company's total 10-year commitment in Partners in Learning to nearly $500 million.

Since its launch in 2003, Partners in Learning has touched the lives of more than 90 million students, teachers and education policymakers in 101 countries, according to Microsoft.

In the next five years, Microsoft is aiming to triple the impact of Partners in Learning's three core programmes: Innovative Teachers, Innovative Students and Innovative Schools. Partners in Learning is a key education initiative under Microsoft Unlimited Potential, the company's commitment to creating sustained social and economic opportunity for everyone.

“Microsoft has always believed that education is the cornerstone of opportunity, and that investing in education is the best way to help young people achieve their potential,'' said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. “Partners in Learning is one of the ways Microsoft works with governments and schools around the world to help teachers use technology in the classroom to make learning exciting and relevant for the 21st century.''

One teacher impacted by Microsoft's Partners in Learning programme is Maha Al Shakhshir, a biology teacher from Jordan's Jellol Secondary School in the Middle Bedouin District and a past recipient of the Secondary School Content award at a Partners in Learning Innovative Teachers Forum (ITF).

She has attended several regional and global ITF events in recent years and says the opportunity to collaborate with teachers globally has a positive impact on her time in the classroom.

“Teachers all over the world face the same challenges as I do each day. Our role as educators is to prepare our students for the outside world,'' Shakhshir said. “Integrating the power of technology with our curriculum can improve the quality of life and economic vitality of our community by preparing our students for the future.''

Other regional Partners in Learning programs include Bahrain's Ministry of Education who partnered with Microsoft to train teachers in ICT skills to use their new technology knowledge to teach their students. To date 1,000 teachers have been trained in ICT skills, in turn training a further 10,000 teachers. Similarly, Egypt's Ministry of Education partnered with Microsoft to train more than 50,000 teachers.

In Qatar, Al-Bayan Educational Complex for Girls was a founding member in Microsoft's Innovative Schools two-year program with the goal of transforming the school into a model for successful 21st-century education.

This programme will equip girls with the skills they need to participate successfully in Qatar's work force and continue to increase the number of women making a significant contribution to the country's growth as a knowledge economy.

“Microsoft provided us with a unique opportunity to take an innovative approach at creating locally appropriate and relevant curiculum,'' said Hissa Abdulla, Principal of the Al-Bayan Educational Complex for Girls. “Success will have national implications, as Al-Bayan is a leading school in the education reform initiative in Qatar.''

The Innovative Students programme provides affordable, reliable software to qualifying governments purchasing Windows-based PCs for primary and secondary students' personal use at home.