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AWS Invests $100M to Advance Access to Education Technology
The initiative aims to support disadvantaged communities with advanced digital learning solutions through cloud credits and innovative technologies
Isabella V5 December 2024

 


 AWS invests $100 million to promote access to technology education in disadvantaged communities. The initiative, through cloud credits, supports educational organizations in adopting innovative solutions in AI, machine learning and cloud computing, helping to train students with advanced skills for the future.

Key points:

  •  AWS allocates $100 million to educational initiatives.
  •  Cloud credits will help develop digital learning solutions.
  •  Code.org, Rocket Learning and Tangible Africa are examples of beneficiaries.
  •  The initiative aims to reduce the education gap in disadvantaged communities.


In the contemporary educational landscape, the rapid pace at which digital technologies are evolving has made it essential to acquire advanced skills in areas such as AI, machine learning (ML), and cloud computing. However, many communities, especially the disadvantaged and underrepresented, face significant barriers in accessing such educational opportunities. In response to these inequalities, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched a targeted initiative, allocating up to $100 million over the next five years to further the digital and educational inclusion of the next generation. The AWS Education Equity Initiative provides cloud credits to educational organizations, a valuable contribution that enables them to develop innovative solutions that break down barriers to accessing advanced technologies.

These credits serve as financial support, enabling organizations to benefit from AWS’s advanced technologies without incurring high costs. The program is designed to provide tools that can enhance and expand digital learning opportunities around the world, fostering the inclusion of communities that often lack the ability to access advanced educational resources. Cloud technologies and AI solutions can thus be leveraged to create innovative educational experiences, ranging from the implementation of virtual teaching assistants, to the creation of personalized learning platforms, to the introduction of chatbots and other applications that stimulate student interaction and engagement.

The program aims to support numerous educational organizations, including schools, universities, social enterprises, and nonprofits, that work with young people from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds. To this end, AWS has already established partnerships with more than 50 entities in 10 countries. Notable examples include Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching computer science in K-12 schools, with a special focus on girls and students from ethnic minorities. Thanks to AWS cloud credits, Code.org has been able to expand its AI assistant, which has already allowed it to reduce by up to 50 percent the time it takes teachers to evaluate student programming projects. This has freed up significant resources, allowing educators to focus on more personalized and interactive activities. The teaching assistant is based on Amazon Bedrock, an AWS platform for creating and expanding advanced AI solutions.

Another entity that will benefit from this support is Rocket Learning, an Indian nonprofit that aims to improve access to quality early childhood education. The organization will use the credits to expand the use of Amazon Q in AWS QuickSight, a business intelligence service that helps collect and analyze data on the effectiveness of educational content delivered via WhatsApp and video, thereby optimizing educational delivery based on local, linguistic, and cultural needs. Data analysis enables content personalization, improving learning outcomes for children in different regions.

Tangible Africa, a South African nonprofit that provides programming courses, is another example of a beneficiary of the program. The organization aims to extend its coding courses offline, using AWS to reach 10,000 students and 120 teachers in several African countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia. This intervention will not only improve access to basic digital skills, but also help develop local technology talent.

In parallel to these projects, AWS continues to strengthen its commitment to education through initiatives such as Amazon Future Engineer, which has already provided more than 17 million hours of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) training to more than 2 million students worldwide. The AI and ML scholarship program, which has awarded more than $28 million to some 6,000 students, is part of this framework of interventions aimed at preparing young people for the challenges of future technology.

The AWS Education Equity Initiative program is therefore part of a broader movement to reduce global educational disparities by facilitating access to technologically advanced educational resources for those with fewer opportunities.