Kolkata: IT major IBM on October 13 opened its first Centre of Excellence in IT education in West Bengal with joint collaboration with the West Bengal University of Technology while announcing to take up computer literacy programme in 300 schools in the state.

The IBM Centre of Excellence, which would work under the Department of IT of the university, would be followed by a number of such CoEs to boost IT education and research in the state.

Inaugurating the CoE, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said this "marks the beginning of a collaborative effort between IBM and the WBUT in the sphere of IT education.

IBM, he said, would soon take up a joint programme with the government to impart computer literacy in 300 schools.

Stating that West Bengal had emerged as a front-runner in development of IT industry, he said altogether 175 IT and ITES units employing over 15,000 people had set up shops here.

He said the proposed software development centre of IT major Wipro would come up by March next year.

The Chief Minister also stressed on collaborative efforts between the IT education sector and the industry to sustain the growth in the IT sector.

State IT Minister Manab Mukherjee said the state government was holding talks with a number of computer majors, including IBM for setting up a number of such CoEs throughout the state.

PTI