Microsoft Partners With CHOICE Humanitarian to Launch Literacy Tool for Edge Browser

Microsoft has partnered with a non-profit organisation, CHOICE Humanitarian, to launch a new literacy tool for its Edge browser. The tool, which is called Accent, aims to help underprivileged sections of society read, learn, and gain literacy in their native language.

The Web-based learning tool is initially being launched in Guatemala to teach local women Spanish. "Accent will help women in Chulac, Guatemala learn Spanish as the first step toward economic empowerment. The sequences are structured like a game to make learning more fun. The program is easy to use and customized for individual learning; the students will also have the oversight of a local woman fluent in Spanish to mentor the group as they progress in their learning," Microsoft's blog post reads.

Accent lets users to work with Edge browser and help them learn the curriculum in an interactive way using touchscreen displays. The idea here is to help these women learn and develop new skills so that they may have "access to their country's economy, government, culture and language" CHOICE Humanitarian hopes to introduce the tool to other countries where the NGO operates.

Notably, the tool lets you easily customise new courses without any programming expertise needed and works with or without an active Internet connection. Microsoft in its blog says that the tool is a step towards gender equality. "Literacy and gender equality work in tandem to eliminate extreme poverty." You can try out a demo version of Accent right here.