Bing has launched a pilot scheme in the US to offer all schools ad-free access to the platform.
Bing for Schools also offers enhanced privacy settings and filters to block adult content, along with a digital learning exercise delivered everyday via the homepage at the right level for each student.
This is the first time a service like this has been offered by a major search engine, giving schools the ‘choice to avoid the commercialisation of student web searches’. More than 800,000 students have already been signed up, from school districts in LA, Atlanta, Fresno and Detroit.
Parents have the opportunity to earn Bing Rewards for participating schools by using the regular search engine at home. Microsoft says that 30,000 credits will get the school a Mircosoft Surface RT – which the company estimates would only take 60 regular users a month to do.
