Amaravati, Feb 16 (IANS): The government of Andhra Pradesh on Friday signed MoU with the edX, a leading global E-learning platform that conducts Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The MoU enables 12 lakh students in Andhra Pradesh pick and pursue their chosen verticals from more than 2,000 modern and emerging courses free of cost, the state government.

The MoU was signed by Higher Education department officials and edX founder Anant Agarwal in the presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at the Camp Office.

The programme was virtually witnessed by the Vice-Chancellors and students of 26 universities.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister reaffirmed that quality education only can make our students globally competitive and fetch them high-end salaried-jobs in top-notch companies.

Right to education is old slogan but the right to quality education is the present day necessity, he said, adding that the MoU incorporates a golden chapter in the history of education in Andhra Pradesh as it helps our students get international joint certification from edX and Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge Universities and other world educational institutions.

Asserting that the competition of our students is not just with those in other states in the country but with the students across the world, he said adding that world-standard education only can give a bright future for them.

The MoU with the edX is only a beginning and it may take four to five years to give its results but we have to make a beginning somewhere, he said, pointing out that steps are being taken to transform the educational system from the elementary stage to higher education level.

In every part of our educational reforms beginning with introduction of English Medium schools to filling of teaching faculty vacancies to introducing podcasts to getting NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) affiliation to 180 educational institutions to the signing of MoU with edX, government has been working with dedication as it strongly feels that investment in human resources is one of our key priority sectors, he said.

Following the MoU, students would be able to learn locally unavailable courses like AI (Artificial Intelligence), Machine learning, Data sciences, Real estate management, cyber forensic, stock exchange, wealth and risk management and other modern verticals.

The Chief Minister said that the government also signed a MoU with the IB (International Baccalaureate) to introduce IB curriculum for the students of Class I from the academic year 2025-26 in government schools and teachers would undergo training from next academic year.

Disclosing that Padmavati University has introduced full-fledged courses in AI, computer vision and meta verse learning, the Chief Minister asked the Vice-Chancellors of other Universities to follow suit and introduce modern courses in augmented technology and 3D learning and improve the online learning capabilities of students.

Education Minister B. Satyanarayana, Chief Secretary Dr KS Jawahar Reddy, Higher Education Council Chairman Prof K. Hemachandra Reddy, Higher Education Special CS B. Rajasekhar, Education Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash, College Education Commissioner P. Bhaskar and others were present.