Microsoft Navalova Labs programme to cover Colombo

The Navalova project by Microsoft has been expanded to cover Colombo schools after funding nearly 40 rural schools as part of efforts to touch one million people by 2009 through MS education and training initiatives, the global firm’s Colombo office said.

The Navalova project is a key initiative under the non-commercial memorandum of understanding signed with the government in 2005, uniting Microsoft and the Ministry of Education in a bid to bridge the digital divide both within the country and between the developed and developing world, by jointly improving the ICT literacy of Sri Lankan school students and teachers. The initiatives under the non commercial MoU including the Navalova project, are funded by the Microsoft "Partners in Learning" (PiL) programme, a global initiative operating in the Kindergarten to Grade 12 space, under the umbrella programme Unlimited Potential, which envisions to transform the way the world learns, fostering knowledge and improving the way they work.

Microsoft Sri Lanka said it hopes to reach at least one million people directly or indirectly through its training and education efforts (of which Navalova initiative is one) by 2009.

The Navalova project focuses on training school teachers in the use of IT, in a bid to encourage the use of IT in the classroom. The objective of the project is to incorporate ICT as an effective tool in education – thereby building the capacity of students to utilize IT effectively and be more competitive when they enter the workforce.

The first phase of the Navalova program spanned the North Central, Central, North Western & North Eastern provinces. In this phase, 1593 teachers belonging to 20 schools in those areas underwent training. Under Phase Two of the project, Microsoft provided funds to the ICT Education Branch of the Ministry of Education to train 1406 teachers from 18 schools in Uva, Southern and Western provinces. Now under Phase Three, Microsoft plans to reach at least 200 teachers in the Western Province.