Two Indian NGOs have received a grant of 3 million USD the philanthropic wing of Google – Google.org. Out of Google's global commitment of USD 50 million, it has already given USD 11.4 million to various NGOs in India. Through Google.org, the company hopes to help non-profit organizations scale up their initiatives and provide training to teachers through tech-based learning solutions. In 2017, Google had donated USD 8.4 million to four leading NGOs – Million Sparks Foundation, Learning Equality, Pratham Education Foundation and Pratham Books – StoryWeaver. According to the estimates, around 8 lakh students and teachers benefited this funding as they received access to innovative educational tools and programmes across the country.
Nick Cain, Education Lead at Google.org said: "We strongly believe that technology can play a powerful part in solving the learning gap in India, and we are expanding our investments in India to ensure thatteachers and students are able to benefit it." Cain elaborated that teachers are not properly equipped with the right resources and there is a lack of quality study material as well. A government report indicated that there are around 11 lakh teachers lacking proper training and are teaching in schools while another report the World Bank emphasized on the fact of 1.3lakh single teacher schools existing in India.
Out of the total fund provided, 1 million USD is specifically meant for The Teacher App, whereas 2 million USD is provided to the Central Square Foundation (CSF). The Teacher App offers an innovative approach of training in important subjects as maths, pedagogy, science, language etc. Apart these funds, the YouTube learning team aims at providing the right technical assistance to the Central Square foundation.
This assistance will indeed support several content creators in producing approximately 200 hours of content in major streams such as technology, science, maths and engineering inthe languages. Additionally, in the next two years, these funds will be used to reach out to 5 lakh teachers.