Investment in digital literacy and citizenship to exceed 300 thousand Euros this year, says Regional Director for Science and Technology
The Regional Director for Science and Technology stated that the Regional Government has invested in the first half of this year 200 thousand Euros in the promotion of digital literacy and citizenship as well as in the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) skills. According to him, "the investment is expected to exceed 300 thousand Euros by the end of 2019."
It concerns the funding of measures under the PRO-ICT initiative launched in 2018 with the purpose of “promoting the acquisition of skills deemed necessary for full digital citizenship, with special emphasis on the most vulnerable groups of citizens, namely the elderly, disabled citizens or unemployed young people."
Bruno Pacheco also mentioned that “the ICT funding for this year supported, for example, the purchase of computer equipment, adapted peripherals and specific software, reaching more than 100 students and citizens with disabilities, an investment amounting to more than 100 thousand Euros."
In turn, the Regional Director pointed out that “the Regional Government has also financed the creation of Digital Skills Workshops with a view to fostering digital literacy and inclusion under the e-Government tools. Moreover, this investment covered the specialisation in digital technologies and applications as well as the professional conversion towards information and communication technologies”.
“This is a way of promoting digital skills, from the most basic to the most advanced, by providing training to children, young people and adults," stated Bruno Pacheco.
In this regard, the government official added that "a dozen Digital Skills Workshops have already been funded, with another 12 to be created soon.” The Region is expected to have 22 workshops, which represent "an overall investment of about 200 thousand Euros.”
Besides the implementation of Digital Skills Workshops, the Regional Government has implemented a series of other measures to promote the teaching of code, programming and robotics, such as the Programming and Robotics Clubs, already implemented in 22 regional schools; their creation and operation represents an investment of nearly 120 thousand Euros.