The Andhra Pradesh government, today, Friday, February 16, signed an agreement with edX, a global e-learning platform which offers Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), to enable students from the state to pursue courses for free, reported PTI.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office.

The pact allows as many as 12 lakh students in the state to benefit from more than 2,000 modern and emerging courses.

“Only quality education can make our students globally competitive and fetch them high-end salaried jobs in top-notch companies. Right to education is an old slogan but the right to quality education is the present-day necessity,” Reddy said, addressing officials and students.

Andhra Pradesh Higher Education Department officials signed the deal with edX Founder Anant Agarwal, at an event attended online by vice-chancellors and students from 26 universities.

According to the CM, the MoU with edX opens a "golden chapter" in the history of education in Andhra Pradesh, facilitating students to obtain international joint certification from edX and world-class universities such as Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge and others.

Stating that the agreement with edX is only the beginning, Reddy added that it may take four to five years for it to yield results, added PTI.