Microsoft announces grants for Nasscom Foundation, Quest Alliance

Microsoft Philanthropies announced grants for over 100 nonprofit organisations in 55 countries, including Nasscom Foundation and Quest Alliance in India. The grants are a component of the $75 million commitment Microsoft made to increase access to computer science education around the world through Microsoft YouthSpark, as announced by Satya Nadella last year. Microsoft is partnering with these nonprofits by providing cash grants, content and other resources they need to bring computational thinking and problem-solving skills to young people in local communities, important building blocks to help them succeed. “Computational thinking and problem-solving skills will be relevant to every job in the future,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “Through our partnerships with nonprofit organisations around the world, we aim to empower all youth to prepare for this future with the foundational knowledge of computer science to dream and create the innovations of tomorrow.” Here in India, the grant that Microsoft Philanthropies made to Nasscom Foundation and Quest Alliance will enable under-served youth to embrace computer science through developing computer programming curriculum and integrating IT and computer science training into current employability and entrepreneurship curriculum respectively. Through the Code A Future project, Nasscom Foundation will introduce and promote Computer Science to under-served youth and encourage them to pursue higher courses in advanced computing and leverage these skills for future employment. Nasscom will develop basic and advanced computer programming curriculum and partner with local organisations to deliver the training to 12,000 youth. With support from Microsoft YouthSpark, Quest Alliance will develop a toolkit focused on integrating IT and computer science training into current employability and entrepreneurship curriculum. The computer science modules will be customised for the Indian context and will include easy to understand classroom activities, work sheets, interactive peer engagements and video case studies. Manju Dhasmana, Lead – Community Affairs at Microsoft India, said, “Microsoft is deeply invested in the success of India’s youth by empowering them in three core areas - education, employment, and entrepreneurship. We see our work with nonprofits as a partnership where we can bring to the table our resources and tech expertise to some of the organisations that are already making impact with young people in our community.”