1,200 laptops for disadvantaged pupils in Brussels
DigitalForYouth.be is distributing 1,200 laptop computers to pupils in Dutch-medium education that don’t have (sufficient) access to a computer in their homes. Lessons have not been taught in schools anywhere in Belgium for almost three weeks. Schools are open, albeit only to care for the children of those that are unable to tele-work.
Webcasts in which teach their pupils over the internet is an option to ensure that children downfall too far behind with their schoolwork. However, not all children have access to a computer. In some homes there is no computer at all, while in other home a single computer has to be shared between several siblings.
DigitalForYouth hopes to address this issue by distributing 1,200 laptops that have been collected from companies and other donors among some of the capital’s needy kids. The telecom operators are lending a hand to. Children of families that don’t have internet in their homes will be given a voucher that will enable them to connect to a Wi-Fi network nearby.
The laptops will be distributed during the second week of the Easter Holidays. They will remain property of the schools.
Meanwhile, the Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts (nationalist) hopes to find 10,000 laptops to distribute among need children in the 5 Flemish provinces. Companies have been asked to donate laptops that are no older than 3 years.