Since the launch of the program, in September 2020, the intervention of the two organisations helped over 7,000 children and teachers in 62 communities to connect to the school, the internet and other essential online learning services.
The digital platform, supported by the Globalworth Foundation with 30,000 euros, has two components, fundraising and the centralisation of the teachers’ and students’ needs, having raised so far over 100,000 euros from 2,470 donations. The online crowdfunding platform expedited connectivity and online learning following the school closures and the healthcare crisis. These exacerbated an already difficult reality which we are facing in the educational system: a limited infrastructure, the lack of resources to connect to the essential online learning services, and the lack of digital education skills.
The Narada team offered, both through the crowdfunding platform and through the NaradaBox project, IT equipment and connectivity services required for digital learning, for children and teachers in 62 communities in the counties of Arges, Bacau, Bistrita-Nasaud, Brasov, Bucharest, Calarasi, Dambovita, Galati, Hunedoara, Ialomita, Iasi, Ilfov, Maramures, Mehedinti, Mures, Neamt, Prahova, Sibiu, Suceava, Timis, Valcea.
Since the start of the period when the schools only worked online, until now, Narada and its strategic partner, the Globalworth Foundation, carried out an emergency intervention in digital education, focusing on: access to computers and the internet; access to online catalogues and online security software; IT equipment for classrooms; training for teachers, S.T.E.M. technology.
“The pandemics created a climate that is a real threat, in the present as well as in the future, to children afflicted by poverty, disabilities or social exclusion. The current circumstances proved how important connectivity is, and together with Narada, we devised this action plan to foster skill development in digital education. Together, we managed to help thousands of people to be better, or at least we held off the worse”, says Georgiana Iliescu, Executive Director, the Globalworth Foundation.
“The mobilisation we achieved with the support of the Globalworth Foundation, of people of action who wanted to contribute, of companies or even whole communities, turned into education opportunities for children in vulnerable environments, children who now have the chance to become the scientists, the entrepreneurs, the artists or the physicians that we all so badly need. Our mission took its first steps, and now we are directing our efforts towards all 168,000 children who need remedial education, whose situation is at risk of worsening, or even contributing to the growing school dropout rates”, said Andra Munteanu, co-founder of Narada.
“I hope to help each of them find their way to success”, added Elena Plesa, teacher at the Aurel Vijoli College in Fagaras, where the intervention of Narada took the form of video projectors, printer, tablets, and books for 62 children.
“I cannot change the entire world, but I know that I can change those around me”, says the priest and teacher Daniel Cergan from the Ienachita Vacarescu Secondary Shcool in Bucharest. And the tablets, the laptop and the interactive blackboard that will be used by 30 students and their teacher will certainly be a change in perspective, using modern learning resources.