SKILLSdox-Datawind partner to launch high quality online education in India

NEW DELHI: Domestic low-cost, Internet-enabled tablet provider Datawind Inc and SKILLSdox Inc, a Canadian company that provides online education resources, have partnered to offer SKILLSdox’s online education marketplace, School of Skill, on select DataWind tablets, which is slated for launch in March 2016.

Datawind’s tablets, which are sold bundled with one year of unlimited Internet access, will feature SKILLSdox’s online education marketplace, School of Skill, which provides access to high quality resources from the world’s top educators.

Earlier this year, SKILLSdox received a $30 million investment from the largest media conglomerate in India, BCCL (Times Group), to support the marketing of online education through TV, radio, digital, newsprint and billboards. The campaign is expected to reach upwards of 80% of India’s population.

SKILLSdox will focus on building awareness for its online education programs in partnership with top global institutions such as Udemy, Centum Learning, BSEI, Emerit and edX,which provide university-level courses across a wide range of disciplines.

As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, India faces many challenges including a lack of educational infrastructure, teaching materials and qualified teachers. To address these challenges, India’s Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley, has established the National Skills Development Council (NSDC) and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has introduced multiple mandates including providing education to 500 million people by 2022 and digitalizing the country by providing Internet access.

“The large number of Indian people in need of formal education coupled with the shortage of skilled teachers and a focus on the digitalization of India presents a tremendous opportunity for online education,” commented Brad Loiselle, President and CEO of SKILLSdox.“Ourgrowing content partnerships, along with the investment from BCCL and now combined with DataWind’s tablets and 1 year of free internet service, we open up access to quality education to all parts of India.”

Suneet Tuli, CEO of Datawind, said, “DataWind’s low-cost Internet-enabled tablets are the perfect way to deliver online educational resources to people across India. Because of our unique technology, the educational resources offered on SKILLS dox’s platform have the ability to change the lives of millions of Indian people – even those in rural villages.”

As the leader in low-cost Internet connectivity, Datawind’s mission is to provide Internet access, which has the ability to create tremendous social and economic benefits, to billions of unconnected people. Their Internet Delivery Platform offers a low cost Internet connectivity solution by bundling an affordable device with an inexpensive one-year pre-paid internet browsing service plan.

With over 4 billion people around the globe not connected to the Internet, affordability and network infrastructure remain the two biggest challenges. DataWind is able to break these barriersby providing Internet access via the world's most affordable tablets and smartphones across existing network infrastructure.