OREANDA-NEWS. September 04, 2012.  BT today announced new highlights of its programme supporting digital inclusion in Colombia, including its support to additional volunteering projects in the education sector.

Since 2004, BT has been actively supporting the Compartel programme, a social responsibility and telecommunications initiative developed by the Colombian Ministry of Communications since 1999, aiming to benefit remote rural areas by providing infrastructure and services such as telephony and Internet to the Colombians. BT has been one of the communication providers that contribute to Compartel in key projects and in different areas such as satellite access to Internet and wireless point to multipoint networks. Today, BT connects more than 600 municipalities in the country.

 Previously, teachers sometimes had to travel for days for simple administration tasks such as asking for leave or posting exams results. Now it’s online and instant. Local authorities work more efficiently too, as e-government grows. And the tele-centres have inspired people to set up new businesses. BT has made significant investment in Colombia every year since Compartel began.

 In the recent months, BT employees carried out the Jirira volunteering project aimed at reducing the digital divide within the populations of rural areas of Colombia, by leveraging the broadband internet access provided by BT to Colombian public schools. Jirira means “to communicate” in the native language of the Indian tribe Huitoto, of the Colombian Amazon.

 One of the schools that has benefited from the project is Soledad No. 5 INOBASOL, an educational institute located on the Caribbean Coast, hosting 60 hearing impaired children between ages of 3 and 16. Given the difficulty for these young students to acquire writing skills, the project has focused on helping them to learn to write as a second language. BT volunteers adapted existing software to Colombian standards to support and assess mathematical as well as writing and reading skills, and help the children learn to write in a playful way

 Another school benefiting from the project is AEROMAR, which is also located on the Caribbean Coast, south of the cultural and historical district of Santa Marta. The school hosts 215 students, mostly from low income families. In this case, BT has worked primarily on the implementation of teaching tools and processes to encourage the use of ICT in classrooms. Simultaneously, BT carried out training courses for teachers.

 Bas Burger, president for Global Commerce and executive sponsor for BT Global Services CSR programs, said: “We recognise the enormous potential for information and communications technology to make a positive difference on the lives of individuals and of whole communities, and on society as a whole. We are very proud of helping Colombia to build stronger communities through the power of our technology and the commitment of our people.”