Google.org funds $3 million; makes India the largest recipient of its grants

NEW DELHI: Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the American Internet giant has announced an grant of $3 million for India to two not-for-profits working in the area of education -- The Central Square Foundation and the Teacher App. Last year, Google.org invested $8.4 million across four Indian NGOs. Thursday's investment makes India the largest recipient of the grants under the $50 million global commitment made by Google.org last year.

Nick Cain, Education Lead, Google.org said that the success of its existing partners has given it the confidence to expand its efforts in India. "We strongly believe that technology can play a powerful part in solving the learning gap in India, and we are expanding our investments in India to ensure that all teachers and students are able to benefit from it. These new funds will help contribute in building more locally relevant solutions and content for students and teachers,” he said.

While a grant of $1 million has been made to The Teacher App, Google.org will provide $2 million and technical assistance from the YouTube Learning team to the Central Square Foundation. The financial support to CSF will aid the expansion of high quality, curriculum-aligned educational video content which will be popularised through Google's Youtube platform. The grant will support a minimum of 20 content creators to produce at least 200 hours of quality science, technology, engineering and math content in Hindi and vernacular languages. In addition, it will also work to scale its reach.

Satya Raghavan, Head of Entertainment for Youtube India said that with growing connectivity and affordable data, YouTube is emerging as a popular destination for learning in India. "Globally, learning and educational content drives over a billion views a day and we believe there is a huge opportunity for creators in India to enhance education and learning through YouTube.”

Last year, four NGOs — Learning Equality, Million Sparks Foundation, Pratham Books StoryWeaver, and Pratham Education Foundation had recieved funding last year in India.

Cain told ET that globally the $50 million committment has got exhaused and the organisation is mulling its strategy for investment and grants for the coming year.