NEW DELHI: Google.org has funded 2 million USD to empower students and teachers by advancing the use of high quality, open source, video resources.

Google.org funded the amount in 2018 through a Central Square Foundation, a grant making organization and policy think tank, focused on improving the quality of school education, and learning outcomes of children from low-income communities in India.

Education gap persist in India, where 50 percent of students in 5th grade cannot read a 2nd-grade text or do a two-digit subtraction problem. Supplementary instruction or self-study through video has shown to be an effective tool to help students improve, and Indian students are eager to improve–roughly 85 percent of upper primary and secondary students receive some form of private coaching.

But a variety of barriers such as infrastructure, lack of curriculum alignment, and an insufficient amount of available content, has limited the role of video in helping Indian students learn key concepts.

Google is granting support from Google.org and technical volunteer assistance from YouTube employees. The Central Square Foundation will launch a video content accelerator to empower the next generation of educational video creators in India.

The accelerator will directly support more than 20 educators with the funding and training they need to produce more than 200 hours of quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content in Hindi and vernacular languages.

The accelerator will also work to scale its reach by developing a hub to share best practices such as tips on how to create engaging videos and guidance for aligning lessons with curriculum and standards with the sector at large.