Italy was the first European country impacted by Covid 19. The pandemic devastated the country on many levels, the education system being one of them. The school closures in March 2020, and the transition to all virtual learning for the entire country’s educational system, revealed many issues and statistics. The most glaring figure is that almost 30% of families did not have any devices and/or the right competencies to stay connected to this new virtual learning environment.
Triggered by this new reality, the ST Foundation decided to support this learning environment. The Foundation’s main competencies and resources, being in computer science, came in very handy in this current scenario.
The ACRA Foundation, an Italian NGO, was our first partner. The reason behind this partnership was ACRA’s strong ties to schools in Lombardy and the organization’s competencies in the educational field. This allowed us to identify the new beneficiaries’ main needs and expectations to face the new reality efficiently and successfully.
Together we created the #NoOneBehind initiative for Lombardy. This project’s goal was to assist the schools in the region to familiarize themselves with online teaching and learning techniques. The initiative’s efforts were organized down into two phases:
- Phase one – Equipment donations to less fortunate families in Lombardy (Italy).
- Phase two – Creation of new online courses and content for the teachers.
