Singapore’s Ministry of Education, together with Google, has announced that they will be moving over to Google Apps platform by the end of 2009. The Google Apps Education edition will be made available to more than 30,000 teachers and staff in over 350 schools, making MOE the first Ministry in Singapore to jump onto the open standard cloud computing bandwagon.

According to the announcement, this move “is part of MOE’s goals to adopt innovative technologies such as Web 2.0 within the education profession to drive next-generation learning and communications.”

Google Apps for Education offers a massive increase to 7GB email disk-space as compared to the current system’s 110MB. When the number of documents and emails ascends exponentially, keeping track of information would be much easier with 7GB. The system will also be constantly be upgraded with new and improved features.

Mr James Kang, Assistant Chief Executive, Government Chief Information Office at IDA, said, “I am pleased that MOE decided to adopt an open standard cloud computing platform after much market study and user requirement analysis, as it is able to cater for future growth and innovative adoption of emerging technologies that are gaining popularity among educators and students.”

Collaborating with fellow teachers and staff would also be faster. Additionally, keeping pace with the Gen-Y students’ love for web applications would help strengthen the teacher-student bond.
Talk about killing many, many birds with one stone, all at minimal cost trade-offs.

For companies in close contact with MOE, it will only be considered wise to keep up with their choice of communication and collaboration system. If such a behemoth organization like MOE can decide to join forces with Google, you know you shouldn’t be far behind in its trail.

If it’s just a fear of new things, PointStar can help you ease into transition. We offer training packages for Google Apps, do feel free to contact us.