Meta partners with education, skill development ministries to boost digital skills, entrepreneurship

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has joined forces with India's Education Ministry and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in a significant three-year partnership. The primary objective of this collaboration is to provide valuable support to students, educators, and entrepreneurs across the country.

As a part of this initiative, Meta has formally entered into a letter of intent (LoI) with the National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD). The key focus of this partnership is to offer free digital marketing courses, promoting entrepreneurship and skill development in India.  

Working closely with NIESBUD, Meta is committed to delivering digital marketing skills training to one million entrepreneurs over the next three years. To make this training accessible to a broad audience, Meta will utilise its platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, offering courses in seven regional languages.  

In addition to the collaboration with NIESBUD, Meta has also established two Letters of Intent (LoIs) with prominent educational institutions: the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) under the Department of Higher Education and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).  

Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said, “Education to Entrepreneurship partnership is a game-changer, which will take Digital Skilling to the grassroots. This will build capacities of our talent pool, seamlessly connect students, youth, workforce & micro-entrepreneurs, with futuristic technologies, and transform our Amrit Peedhi into new-age problem solvers and entrepreneurs.”   

Meta had previously introduced the Creators of Metaverse program in collaboration with AICTE in July of this year. This program aims to enable 100,000 students and 20,000 educators in the fields of AR, VR, AI, and XR technologies. Additionally, a two-year AVGC-XR-AI diploma course is set to be introduced for students in AICTE-affiliated colleges.   

Moreover, in September 2022, the company initiated the XR Start-up Program in collaboration with Meity Startup Hub. This program aimed to support the extended reality ecosystem in India and lay the groundwork for the metaverse. Its purpose was to contribute to developing emerging technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), within the country.