New Delhi, Jul 9 (IANS): Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson on Monday announced the expansion of its "Connect to Learn" initiative in India under which the company's mobile broadband solutions would provide Internet connectivity to 34 education centers run by Smile Foundation across five regions in India.

The centres offer an education programme called the "Smile Twin E-learning Programme" to help unprivileged youth acquire the skills required to get jobs in the retail and service sectors.

Ericsson has helped digitise the programme by developing web-based training modules.

"Thanks to Ericsson, more than 70 per cent of the educational material is now digital and the 'Connect to Learn' initiative has made these training modules interactive and engaging, which promote student interest and participation," said Santanu Mishra, Co-Founder and Executive Trustee, Smile Foundation, a New Delhi-based NGO.

As part of its initiative, Ericsson assisted and trained teachers to use the web-based training modules and integrate them with traditional teaching methods. The company also donated computers to the centres.

Launched in 2010 with the purpose of increasing access to quality education, especially for girls, through the integration of technology tools and digital learning resources in schools across the globe, the "Connect to Learn" initiative has so far touched more than 120,000 students in 25 countries.