The government of Andhra Pradesh announced on Thursday, June 16, that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ed-tech major BYJU’s to help draft the curriculum for government school students from Class 4 to Class 10. Andhra Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy said that BYJU’s online courses will be integrated into the Andhra school education system, and students from Class 8 to Class 10 will all be given tablets to enhance digital learning. The aim, the Chief Minister said, is to ensure that government school training is equal to CBSE training by 2025, and that students are trained for 2025 CBSE board exams.
The Andhra government also said that as part of this deal, BYJU’s will give tablets to all government school students from Class 8 to Class 10 — which is likely to have this syllabus pre-loaded onto the device. The MoU was signed on Thursday by Commissioner of Education S Suresh Kumar and Vice President of BYJU’S Sushmit Sarkar in the presence of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. BYJU’s CEO Byju Raveendran joined the event online from USA, and praised the Andhra Pradesh government for “moving faster than a startup.”
In a release, the Andhra Pradesh government has said that the project — aimed at enhancing digital knowledge and experience of government school children — will cost Rs 500 crore, and the funds will be used to provide tablets to about 4.7 lakh students. The tablets will be handed over to the students in September, a release from the Andhra government said.
Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy said that BYJU’s content is available to private school children, and those who have subscribed to it, which costs around Rs 20,000 to 25,000 per annum. “Now, it will be available to government school students for free. Further, the government also to give tabs so that digital experience and digital knowledge is available to the children,” said the Chief Minister, adding that teachers will also undergo training for the same.
The Andhra government has also announced that televisions will be installed in each classroom from the next academic year to ensure digital learning is propagated.
“It will transform the lives of many poor children. The project is about handhold the government school children so that they pass out 10th and 12th CBSE exams with flying colours,” Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy said. The deal between Byju Raveendran and Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is said to have been finalised during the latter’s trip to Davos for the World Economic Forum.