Jaltemba Sol
Gates Foundation Awards $1 Million To Mexican Library
Program trains people in remote villages to use computers
The Associated Press
August 14, 2008, 3:40 AM PDT
The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation is giving its $1 million "access to learning award" to
an organization in Mexico's Veracruz state.
The Vasconcelos Program
brings computers to remote villages to train people how to use computers and
connect to the Internet. Mobile computer labs are moved from village to village
on all-terrain vehicles.
Microsoft Corp. is providing a software donation
and the foundation is providing the $1 million award to the Vasconcelos Program.
The program was created and managed by the Veracruz secretary of public
education. It targets communities where computers are available in schools and
community centers but the equipment is underused because residents lack computer
skills.
The mobile computer lab and a training team spend up to two weeks
in each village training people of all ages.