New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS): The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Wednesday conferred the Rajiv Gandhi International Prize for Technology in Education and Development on the Azim Premji Foundation.

The award instituted by the university in its silver jubilee year was presented to Azim Premji by Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal at a ceremony held here.

Focusing on the basics of education through equity, Premji said: "You can't build skyscrapers in air. We need a solid foundation to address the demands."

He stressed on the need of integrating IT with mainstream education which would then prove far more useful in disseminating education among adults than children.

"Though children learn quickly, but what they require is good teachers," said Premji.

"One area of use of IT which is not being exploited as yet is administration. IT has a huge applicability here which can help improve the area of governance," he concluded.

According to IGNOU, the award comprising of Rs.five lakh cash and a citation is given to individual or institution that has made significant contributions in education, particularly educational technology, for development in developing countries across the world.