Jeff Raikes, Group Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Support, Microsoft Corporation launched the programme. ``For India to realise it's potential of becoming an IT superpower, education would play a key role,'' said Raikes. ``The School and Campus agreement will help in proliferation of IT education at the grass-root level, besides creating a vast skilled pool of manpower in India. This agreement is in line with Microsoft's worldwide initiatives in education towards the betterment of the society at large,'' he added.

The School and Campus Agreement will be exclusively rolled out through Microsoft's Authorised Education Resellers who with their prior experience of working with the educational institutes are in a position to provide them with better services.

Educational establishments (as independent bodies or as part of a group) and government organisations in the field of education can purchase non-perpetual licenses for a range of Microsoft products including Microsoft Office Standard/Professional, NT Workstation upgrades, Visual Studio Professional, Office Step by Step interactive and Encarta Standard. In addition, they can opt for additional products like FrontPage and Project at a marginal cost. The agreement also allows the institutions to get free upgrades for the entire period of the agreement.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is the first educational establishment that has signed the agreement across its network of 25 regional centres and 340 study centres. More than 5,00,000 students at IGNOU'S centres will be able enhance their skills by working on the latest Microsoft software available in the market. ``Our vision is to create an IT literate society in India and our agreement with Microsoft gives the right impetus to our efforts in achieving the same,'' said Professor A W Khan, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU.

The agreement allows an institution to use Microsoft software products for a one-year subscription term. At the end of the term, the school has the option to renew the agreement for another year or buy out the software itself. The agreement provides educational institutions with increased volume licensing flexibility, facilitates compliance via clearer agreements, easier license administration with annual budget predictability and has a low cost of ownership. This also provides the teachers the right to use the software at home.

``Education has always been a key focus for Microsoft in India, and we are delighted to be working with IGNOU in this endeavour,'' said Sanjay Mirchandani, Managing Director, Microsoft India. ``We are positive that this programme will act as a catalyst to increase the awareness and use of IT among students in India,'' he added.