For the first time Computadores para Educar installed photovoltaic solutions in 311 education facilities around the country to allow over 9.000 students to access information and knowledge.

Solutions are made up by solar panels with their respective technical equipment, the delivery of tablets for education and training for all teachers. These photovoltaic facilities had never been able to Benefit from the national programs of computers for education due to lack of energy and or public order challenges.

Schools or education facilities located in Colombian rural areas, have been historically affected by the internal armed conflict and today they are part of the municipalities with priority for the implementation of the peace agreement. Amazonas, Cesar, Chocó, Guainía, La Guajira, Magdalena, Vaupés, Vichada, Putumayo y Nariño are the 10 departments that count on these new solutions (Colombia has a total of 32 departments).

Communities from rural áreas are categorizad as vulnerable population. Moreover, they have been identified to be either poor or extremely poor. In the specific case of the abovementioned benefitted departments, great part of the population is considered as armed conflict victims.

Once the schools or education facilities where equipped with the new infrastructure (solar panels and devices to provide for limited or full internet access), they were also given over 5.000 tablets (total) that had preloaded educational digital contents which can be easily updated. Additionally, to the contents, tablets also have an anti-theft software installed. As providing the necessary infrastructure to allow for knowledge and information is not enough, teachers and parents from those communities were trained trough an ICT certification course.

These tools will transform learning spaces into new innovative learning spaces which help to close existing learning and knowledge gaps trough ICTs and at the same time through the usage of clean technologies that are environmentally friendly.

http://www.computadoresparaeducar.gov.co/es/node/478

• Colombia