Microsoft on Tuesday began a 10-day training programme, "Microsoft Saksham," for teachers of Vinobha Bhave University (VBU) in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.

In all, 25 teachers from departments of the varsity and colleges affiliated to it will be trained in information technology and software skills at the varsity’s computer laboratory, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Rabindra Nath Bhagat, said.

Nodal officer and Director in the Union Human Resources Development ministry M K Singh said the Centre had launched national mission on education through information and communication technology (NME-ICT) project.

"The vision is to convert India’s demographic advantage into a knowledge powerhouse by nurturing and honing skills of our working population into knowledge or knowledge enabled working population," he added.

The aim, he added, was to train over one lakh teachers from 20,000 colleges across the country based on basic information and communication technology (ICT) tools and build capacity for use of IT in day to day teaching.

Microsoft is implementing the pilot ICT training program "Saksham" at six universities in the country, with VBU being one of them. PTI CORR PVR