New Delhi: To strengthen education ties between India and Australia, a scholarship that offers school teachers in India to pursue higher education and further their level of pedagogy was launched here today.

Christened as 'Ashok Khurana University of Adelaide Scholarship' to recognize Dr Ashok Khurana's philanthropic efforts to aid teachers in getting their masters, the effort is collaboration where a corpus fund has been set up and 38,500 Australian dollars per year and will be given to one teacher who will pursue the course at University of Adelaide.

"The one-year course will be specifically designed according to the needs and field of expertise as desired by the teacher," said Khurana.

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Hailing Khurana’s contribution in setting up of the scholarship, South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill emphasised the "existing ties between the two countries in the field of education."

"To build on our existing ties, we need to deliver high quality education and this scholarship offers an opportunity to outstanding teachers," said Weatherill.

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Pointing towards the widening gap between the skills shortage in the Indian market arising out of the large amount of vacancies of teachers in India, Prof Pascale Quester, Vice President, University of Adelaide, said "the two countries are working together to reduce this gap" and such an initiative "is a step towards that."

The scholarship will be effective from next year and is open to all school teachers in India who have a minimum of five years of teaching experience.