Facebook Ties Up With CBSE to Offer Certified Training on Digital Safety, AR to Students in India
Facebook has partnered with the National Board of Education’s Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to introduce a certified curriculum on digital security and online welfare as well as augmented reality (AR) for students and teachers in India.
The new development by the social networking giant aims to help young adults and students in the country develop skills to safely navigate the Internet and prepare for new jobs.
Under the partnership, various modules have been provided for secondary school students. Facebook aims to teach a total of 40,000 students through its new move.
The course on digital security and online well-being covers aspects such as security, privacy, mental health and the Instagram Guide for Building Healthy Digital Habits, Facebook said in a statement.
A specific module is designed to help students identify responsible digital users as well as online threats and harassment and misinformation. The company is aiming to cover at least 10,000 students through training, which will be distributed by the Center for Social Research (CSR).
In addition to teaching on digital security and online wellness, Facebook has brought AR as a curriculum to teach the basics and enable students to create new immersive experiences through its software Spark AR Studio. The course will run in several stages.
In the first phase, the company is aiming to train 10,000 teachers, who will train 30,000 students in the second phase.Related:- Windows 10 to get new Start menu design and updated Alt-Tab functionality
There will be three weeks training which will be conducted in batches. It will cover AR fundamentals and ways to create new AR experiences using Spark AR Studio. In addition, Facebook has provided Bengaluru-based SV.CO Digital Learning Platform as the implementation partner for the AR curriculum.
In the statement, CBSE Chairperson Manoj Ahuja said, “Incorporating technology and digital security into the school curriculum will ensure that students are not only gaining knowledge to succeed in the digital economy but are learning and collaborating in an online environment Are. ”
Registrations of teachers receiving AR training are now open on the CBSE website. Similarly, schools, teachers and students who want to get started with digital security and online welfare courses can register on the wider site.
The partnership with CBSE is one of Facebook’s latest efforts to expand its presence in India, its largest market with over 32.8 million users.
This is a cheap test case for the company to enter the field of education and promote Facebook for education initiatives. Saying that, this is not the first time the Menlo Park, California-based company has used India to bring a proof-of-concept (POC) to global markets.
Back in August 2013, Facebook introduced its Internet.org program in the country, which was renamed Free Basics in 2015, to offer some web services for free. However, the move backfired in 2016 due to heavy criticism over violating net neutrality.
The latest announcement comes just a few days after Facebook acquired a 9.99 percent stake in Jio platforms. The company has been making major strides for some time and is bringing updates to limit the spread of fake news in the country through its platforms including WhatsApp.
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