AP Govt School Students Get Free Canva Access

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh has become the first state in the country to provide free statewide access to Canva for Education for all government school students, teachers and education department officials, marking a major step towards technology-driven learning.

Announcing the initiative on Saturday, education minister Nara Lokesh said the government was committed to ensuring that government school students had access to world-class digital tools and opportunities on par with the best available globally.

The initiative has been launched through a partnership between the school education department, Samagra Shiksha and Canva, a globally recognised visual communication and design platform.

The programme is expected to benefit lakhs of students and teachers across the state while strengthening Andhra Pradesh's position as a leader in technology-enabled education and human resource development.

Under the initiative, students will gain access to tools for creating presentations, videos, infographics, graphics and project-based learning content. The programme aims to enhance digital literacy, communication skills, creativity, design thinking and problem-solving abilities required in the 21st-century economy.

Officials said Canva would be integrated, subject to technical feasibility, with the state's flagship LEAP (Learning Excellence in Andhra Pradesh) app, the Google Workspace ecosystem and Chromebooks being deployed in schools, creating a seamless digital learning environment.

Teachers will receive phased training through a Training of Trainers (ToT) model. The programme will also promote the responsible use of artificial intelligence tools in classrooms. The SCERT will develop curriculum-aligned Telugu and English template libraries linked to foundational literacy and numeracy goals.

Lokesh said the government's objective was not merely to create technology users but to nurture creators, innovators and global problem-solvers.

"The future belongs to those who can think creatively, communicate effectively and use technology with confidence," he said, adding that the initiative was another step towards transforming Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge and innovation hub.

The Canva platform includes privacy safeguards, role-based permissions and teacher-controlled AI features to ensure student safety and data protection. The rollout will be implemented in four phases covering onboarding, training, classroom adoption and full-scale implementation.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on June 18 at Vidya Bhavan, Mangalagiri, in the presence of Director of School Education A. Thameem Ansaria, Samagra Shiksha State Project Director B. Srinivasa Rao and Canva representatives.