IT major Dell Inc, as part of its philanthropic effort in India, has earmarked over $2.5 million for organisations promoting education. This will benefit 1 lakh children who are under 17 years of age.

Dell will deploy the earmarked $2.57 million to 10 institutions in the country working toward child labour rehabilitation, educating daughters of sex workers and an initiative to impart information on climate change.

"The next billion Internet users will come from emerging countries like India, Brazil, Russia and China. As a part of our corporate-giving initiative, we will set aside one per cent of our pre-tax profits to educate people," Dell Global Giving Council India representative and Managing Director of Dell International Services Ganesh Lakshminarayanan told PTI in Mumbai.

He said Dell aims to be a "one-per cent" company by 2010.

"We have assessed the NGOs' technology and infrastructure needs and awarded cash and in-kind grants. All in-kind grants feature technology offering the lowest possible total cost of ownership," he said. This is through strategic partnership grants of up to $500,000 to support one-year pilot programmes, seed funding grants of up to $100,000 and employee-directed grants of $50,000, Lakshminarayanan added.

Dell YouthConnect plans five pilot projects in India with NGOs, with up to $500,000 of funding in the first year.

Dell has teamed up with The Energy and Resources Institute to further awareness on climate change. The American India Foundation will use the funds to set up 24 computer labs in government schools in Hyderabad.

Similarly, the Bangalore-based Akshara Foundation will further its pre-school education programme.

Citing industry analyst firm IDC, a Dell statement said nearly 500,000 people get online for the first time in their lives every day, the majority of which live in emerging countries. "These will collectively account for about 59 per cent of global PC volume by 2012," it said.