MOSCOW, December 8 (Sputnik) – The British government has launched a 67 million pound ($104 million) program to train 17,500 math and science teachers to equip students with skills essential for working in high-tech industries, the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced Monday.
"If countries are going to win in the global race and children compete and get the best jobs, you need mathematicians and scientists – pure and simple. So today, we commit to deliver more maths and science teachers," British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a press release.
21 November 2014, 14:30 GMT
Under the program, the British government plans to retrain 15,000 existing math's and physics teachers, and recruit up to 2,500 additional specialists. The resources and training for British teachers will be provided by the O2 and Google companies, as well as Queen Mary University, University College London (UCL) and Oxford University.
Aiming to attract first-class degree graduates into math and physics teaching, authorities will award them with a £25,000 tax-free bursary.
The government is also planning to open a digital skills college by 2015 to "support the growth of learning in higher vocational education."
The United Kingdom needs an additional 745,000 workers with digital skills for the period from 2013 and 2017, according to O2 estimates.
