Amazon has launched its global computer science (CS) education programme, Amazon Future Engineer, in the country on Tuesday. In the first year, the e-tailer will offer computer science (CS) learning opportunities to over 1 lakh students from 900 government and aided schools across seven Indian states.
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The initiative would primarily focus on students in grades 6-12 and it would also train teachers and educators on how to teach computer science in a more engaging way.
The initiative would offer CS education and career opportunities to students from underrepresented and underserved communities, said the company.
While a million students enrolled in CS engineering courses annually in the country, participation of students from underserved and underrepresented communities remained significantly low on account of multiple factors: low exposure to CS-related career opportunities, lack of inspirational role models in their community, and language barriers to accessing interesting curriculum formats said Amazon in a release.
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Smartphone penetration was significantly high in the country, compared to computers, still, most of the CS learning modules and online content currently available in the market was not mobile-friendly.
The company said it was working with its global knowledge partner Code.org, a non-profit organisation dedicated to computer science education, to bring high quality and mobile interactive CS content to Indian students.
The curriculum, for CS, would be contextualized for Indian teachers and student communities in government school settings and would offer students coding fundamentals along with courses such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing in local languages.
Amit Agarwal, Global Senior VP and Country Head, Amazon India said, `We hope students emerge more confident and skilled to be responsible creators of technology solutions and build a better future for themselves, and communities around them.’’