The Japan International Cooperation Agency provides Digital Learning Centers with equipment for education

On February 2, MOES met with representatives from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). During the event, the Japanese partners handed over part of the equipment, which will later be directed to Digital Learning Centres located in 9 Ukrainian regions.

In particular, JICA has provided 85 generators and 1700 tablets for Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Mykolayv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Sumy regions.

Laptops and network equipment are planned to be delivered in early March 2024. Later JICA will also provide printers, projectors, charging stations, interactive panels, 3D printers, and robotics kits for DLCs.

«We continue to expand a network of Digital Learning Centers. Today we have more than 165 spaces, and within a few months, we plan to open another 85. First of all, the centers must be equipped with high-quality equipment for online learning, so support from the Japanese government is extremely important. This primarily applies to laptops and tablets, as well as generators for children's uninterrupted access to the Internet. One such center is access to education for several hundred children who do not have their own gadgets, whose schools are destroyed or do not work due to the security situation», — commented Dmytro Zavgorodnii, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine for digital development, digital transformations and digitalization.

Overall, during 2024, within the agreements between JICA and MOES, 85 Digital Learning Centres will be equipped to ensure the sustainable operation of the spaces in communities and cities where there is no access to face-to-face learning.

«Even during wartime, it is imperative to provide Ukrainian children with an opportunity to learn as children are the future of Ukraine. Therefore, we highly appreciate MOES' efforts to establish Digital Learning Centers, and we hope that the equipment provided to the centers will contribute to securing the continuity of children's education», — underlined Mr. Matsunaga Hideki, Chief Representative of JICA Ukraine Office.

JICA provides support to the education sector within the subproject "Urgent Improvement of Equipment for Education Service" as part of the Japanese Grant Assistance for the Program for Emergency Recovery. The Japanese government has allocated nearly 10 million US dollars for this subproject.

The network of DCLs began to expand at the end of 2022. Currently, more than 165 such centers are operating in 17 regions of Ukraine.