NCERT, Canva to introduce free digital certificate courses for teachers in India

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and visual communications platform Canva have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the launch of three self-paced, digital certification and training courses for teachers in India. These courses are to be offered for free and are aimed at building digital, creative, and collaborative classroom teaching skills among teachers in schools.

Canva teacher training module will be provided on DIKSHA, the Ministry of Education school education digital platform. It will also be aired through DTH TV channels of PM eVidya to provide reach to teachers in rural and inaccessible areas where internet is not available. The courses will also be provided in some Indian languages to ensure wide outreach.

The educators will be trained to create engaging lesson plans, presentations, infographics, and other educational materials using Canva Education. The educators will learn collaborative pedagogy and classroom applications of AI tools. The educators will be jointly certified by NCERT and Canva upon completion.

Under the MoU, Canva would make its education platform and tools accessible for free, as well as help prepare instructional materials. NCERT would adapt the content to India's national curriculum and customize it for local use.

The training programme is as per National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and emphasizes developing visual learning, critical thinking, and design-based pedagogy. AI functionalities would also be utilized by educators in order to enhance the participation and performance of students.

Through this initiative, Indian teachers will be certified to utilize Canva Education's vast library that has over 500 tools and apps with in-built capabilities like games, translation, worksheets, and infographics for subjects and classes. The platform's AI-based tools will help teachers make it easy to create content while facilitating efficient planning and delivery in terms of time.

In a statement, Canva announced that its education platform has welcomed more than 25 million teachers and students in 2024 alone, taking its global learning base to more than 100 million users. The platform saw a 50% increase in the use of teachers and a 107% increase in student usage over the previous year. Canva's AI-powered tools like Dream Lab are becoming ever-more popular among educators for creating personalized visuals, enhancing online learning environments worldwide even further.