Digital devices for education: delivery of Chromebooks to education institutions has already started with the help of Google and UNESCO

Delivery of Chromebooks has begun under the agreement signed between the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and Google to meet the needs of Ukrainian teachers.

In order to help teachers organize the educational process, in particular in a distance mode and reach as many educators as possible Google made a decision to increase the amount of support from 43,000 to 50,000 devices.

As of today, October 5, 2022, first 5 regions have already received up to 10,000 devices:

• Dnipropetrovsk – 3,647 units
• Donetsk - 1102 units
• Kherson – 761 units 
• Chernihiv – 2273 units
• Sumy - 177 units

Part of the devices, namely 120 units, were handed over to the teachers of Luhansk region, who currently work and live in Dnipro region as temporarily displaced.

It is planned to provide laptops to the rest of the teaching staff during the autumn 2022.

In order to help Ukrainian teachers acquire the necessary digital competences and master new devices, MoES together with Google will provide training through a series of seminars and online materials, in particular on the use of Google Workspace for Education. One of such options is the online course ‘Google Digital Tools for Education’, which is available during the school year 2022-2023 for educators at all levels and free of charge.

The project is a continuation of the ‘Laptop for every teacher’ initiative, and its implementation became possible thanks to the agreements of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine with Google and UNESCO.

As part of the partnership with MoES, Google provides UNESCO with EUR 1.2 million to train 50,000 teachers in psycho-social skills to support the mental health of their students. It is a part of the overall support provided by the company and Google employees in the amount of more than USD 40 million assistance and $5 million in donations to humanitarian projects.

Moreover, 250 universities and colleges in Ukraine have been given free access to the premium features of Google Workspace for Education for six months.

It should be pointed out that 80% of VET institutions continue the educational process in full-time or mixed mode.