Intel has announced that it would donate 10,000 personal computers to state governments and teacher training institutes in India under its 'Intel Teach program'.

The programme aims at training one million Indian teachers on information and communications technology (ICT). The company had already trained 600,000 teachers of about 14 states across India under the programme.

"The government is not doing enough for the development of the ICT education in the country. There should be more public private partnerships in this sphere to enable proper computer and broadband penetration which is very low in the country," Intel chairman Craig Barrett told a conference attended by Indian corporate honchos.

"Teachers are the only way we can effectively reach and educate people on the changing technologies of the world. So they need to be first trained and empowered," he stated.

"Every year I come here I see tremendous changes taking place. India has the potential to be one of the global leaders in information technology which it can achieve if it becomes all inclusive in its approach.

"India should be innovative in its approach and share best practices from places like Jordan where teachers are given hike in their salaries if they are trained on ICT. Some countries are even thinking of tax concession to software developers."

He said countries like China, India and Brazil where a majority of people live in rural areas, should be more focussed in diminishing the digital divide and have technology available to all.

"India is at an early stage of economic development and so the opportunities here are immense. However, it needs to take care of the core issues like accessibility and content," he stressed.

Adding that India has an advantage because of its ethnic and regional diversification, he said, "Rich and local content is very useful to be able to reach a wide range of masses in this country. Indians should be able to get content in their local language."

Intel has developed PCs, which are Indian language enabled in its design centre in Bangalore.

"Content is very important and it should be tailor-made according to local needs. It should also keep under consideration the socio-cultural and geographical conditions," he reiterated.

Elaborating on the importance of education for the success of a developing economy, Barrett said, "The drop-out rate in India is alarming and there are not enough schools here. Bringing in computers in these schools will add magic and help in retaining these students, thereby, unleashing their hidden talent."