``We have taken this step to recognise efforts of thousands of teachers who are building a literate India. As a responsible IT training leader, we thought it was our duty to come forward and make them computer literate,'' said NIIT vice-chairman and managing director Rajendra S Pawar.

The programme will expose teachers to the fundamentals of computers like how to word-process a document, how to create a spreadsheet, how to surf the Internet and how to create and send an e-mail. ``Teachers will be able to enroll for the programme at any of the NIIT education centres nearest to them between Monday and Saturday. We hope to trainabout 10,000 teachers in this process,'' said Pawar.

Swift programme modules are designed to demystify computers for people who can gain substantially by embracing computers in their daily lives. Swift India programme is NIIT's nationwide initiative to build a computer-literate India, Pawar felt.

Through Swift programmes, thousands of executives, housewives, government employees, working and retired professionals (lawyers, doctors, architects, entrepreneurs, etc.) have whetted their appetite for computer literacy by shelling out as little as Rs 599 for eight hours of learning at NIIT. The programme can be extended to a full-fledged 36-hour Swift India programme, which enables the learners to work on a PC and use the Windows utilities to create simple documents and spreadsheets with simple functions and graphs. In addition, they are able to appreciate desk-top applications and the Internet Explorer to browse the net.

In addition, NIIT has also taken a series of initiatives to help the soldiers who foughtin Kargil. It will offer a state-of-the-art NIIT training programme to the family members of soldiers and officers who laid down their life during the operation, or were injured.

``This would enable the next of kin of the soldiers an opportunity to equip themselves with computer skills,'' said Pawar. NIIT will recommend the right programme for them depending on their aptitude, including its flagship four-year GNIIT course.

In July, NIIT had conducted `Udaan', an exhibition-cum-sale of over 200 paintings, sculptures, digital images, photographs, handcrafted items and other artefacts created by the artists and designers in its ranks.