Facebook, which reaches more users than any other international company in India, has identified a new area of opportunity to further expand its tentacles on the world's second largest Internet market.
The social behemoth announced on Sunday that it has partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education, a government agency that oversees education in private and public schools in India, to launch a certified program on digital security and good - be online, and augmented reality for students and educators.
Through these topics, Facebook and CBSE aim to prepare high school students for current and emerging jobs, and help them develop skills to surf the Internet safely, make "informed choices" and think about their mental health. , they said.
Facebook has said it will offer the training in different phases. In the first phase, more than 10,000 teachers will be trained; in the second, they will supervise 30,000 students. The three-week AR training will cover the fundamentals of emerging technology and how to use Facebook's Spark AR Studio to create augmented reality experiences.
"I encourage teachers and students to apply for programs starting July 6, 2020," said Ramesh Pokhriyal, Union Minister for Human Resources Development, in a statement.
Instagram Guide for Building Healthy Digital Habits, which was developed in collaboration with the Jed Foundation (JED) and YLAC (Young Leaders for Active Citizenship), aims to help young people better understand the "socio-emotional space" in which they operate and engage in health. conversations.
"I am proud to share that CBSE is the only board of directors to have introduced digital security and online wellness modules, the Instagram toolkit for teens and augmented reality. Integrating technology and digital security into the curriculum will not only ensure students gain knowledge for success in the digital economy, but also learn and collaborate in a secure online environment, "said Manoj Ahuja, president of the CBSE, said in a statement.
The announcement just wrapped up a remarkable week in India, which began with New Delhi blocking nearly 60 services developed by Chinese companies for cybersecurity reasons. One of the services affected by India's order, TikTok has identified Asia's third largest economy as its largest market outside of China.
The service, managed by Chinese giant ByteDance, reaches over 200 million users in India, most of whom live in small towns. TIC Tac last year started working with dozens of content creators and companies in India to populate its short video service with educational videos.
Last year, Facebook partnered with telecommunications giant Reliance Jio Platforms - in which it would ultimately invest $ 5.7 billion - to launch "Digital Udaan", the "largest digital literacy program ever conceived" for new internet users in the country. The social juggernaut has intensified its efforts in recent years to raise awareness of the bad side of technology when its platform was faced with the misuse of its own services in the country. India is Facebook's largest market by number of users.
