Your team at BTLP has started a pilot project in Nicaragua that is really starting to take off. We have been working in the La Dahlia region setting up solar electrical systems, lights and USB charging for the last 3 years through a program called the Access to Education. During this time, the team has provided electricity to 28 schools in this region where there was no electricity available. This last May, we started a pilot program through 2 of these schools to provide educational tools to the students to provide access for these teachers and students. We call this the expansion of the Access to Education Initiative. These tools include a computer, projector, an audio system and an inverter that will allow these teachers to deliver curriculum to their students. We also provide training and maintenance for the equipment so that the teachers can effectively use and count on everything working.
You can see from the picture above some initial setup and training of the teachers by Allison and William. They go over how to connect the computer to the projector and audio system. The ministry of education in Nicaragua, MINED, provides many online classes and tools that can be downloaded and used by the teachers. All of this equipment is run by the solar panels that we installed in the schools over the last three years.
You can see from the above picture that the teacher really knows how to use the tools. This teacher even showed us how she can setup a WiFi hotspot and download the curriculum from MINED. They also have USB drives to download many tools that they can make available to the students.
We have been getting some really great pictures and videos of the students learning with their new tools. The teachers are really using the equipment and the students seem really engaged. This could be a game changer for these rural schools.
Above is a student doing reading in front of the class. I really think that this partnership will enhance the education for these students in many ways. We are also seeing extracurricular activities in the schools, like celebrations, parent teacher meetings, movies and even cultural dancing with the audio systems. This is really inspiring to see these schools being used for really enhancing the lives in these communities.
I really love this project and look forward to seeing what the next step is for the Access to Education Initiative. I'll let you know more about this exciting project as we continue it. If you are like us, seeing these kids smile makes it all worth it!
Jim
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