From correspondents in Uttar Pradesh, India, 04:32 PM IST

Uttar Pradesh has teamed up with Intel, the chip manufacturing giant, for spreading computer literacy in the country's most populous state, an official said Friday.

'By collaborating with Intel, we would set up computer labs in nearly 5,000 schools across the state,' principal secretary of secondary education A.K. Mishra told IANS.

He said the computer labs would be initially set up in various schools of Lucknow and Allahabad districts and later to other districts. The move will immensely benefit students and teachers of rural and far-flung areas not enrolled in computer training programmes.

Unlike ICSE and CBSE, computer science is not a compulsory subject in the Uttar Pradesh board. The government's pact with Intel would be the first step to make computer science a compulsory subject in the Uttar Pradesh board, an official said.

Under the tie-up, Intel has already provided 50 computers.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)