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Minecraft Education Edition beta goes live (for schools only)

An early version of the education edition of the hit video game is available for download.

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Hey, kids! Minecraft is now a big step closer to your classroom.

 Mojang

Now for a game that you won't mind your children spending hours glued to the screen playing.

A beta version of the education edition of hit video game Minecraft went live on Wednesday, tech news site Thurrott reported. The version is designed for schools and offers a few extras like educational skins.

Minecraft has grown into a phenomenon thanks to its ability to allow players to build whatever they imagine using digital resources they accumulate by "mining." It's been found to help children tap into their creativity and learn things like computer coding, math and engineering.

There was a link to download the beta, but that has been disabled.

Updated at 11:51 am PT: To note that the public link to the beta is no longer available.