Educational inclusion

Even when Information and Communication Technologies are available, some people are not able to use these due to lack of training. According to the CIS (Sociological Research Centre), 91.9% of people aged 65 or over do not use the Internet and, of these, 58.1% admit that they do not use it because they do not know how to.

The work of the Telefónica Foundation in this respect is key, in particular the work of its EducaRed programme, the objective of which is to promote the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education, thus benefitting teachers, students, parents and other people in the following eight countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela (for more information see the Educared section).

Telefónica also invested in other programmes to improve the technological skills of groups who are at risk of exclusion:

• “Aulas 365 Speedy” (Argentina): considered the most important educational support service in Latin America, this training tool provides students, parents and teachers of all educational levels with a new source for additional consultation in the form of
  Speedy Broadband. The tool has an average of 5000 visits a day and offers a wide range of training content with more than 600 educational films and more than 100 courses available
• “Conéctame” (Peru): with the "Bus Móvil", a modern and innovative vehicle equipped with wireless technology (satellite) and Internet access, Telefónica visits different locations throughout Peru to educate and train communities using interactive modules with content that is relevant to their economic and social development, such as Health, Education, SMEs and Information Technology. The first stop for the "Bus Móvil" was Cajamarca where it visited five districts over eight weeks, benefitting approximately 5500 people in this department. (For more information see vídeo)
• “Aula Fundación Telefónica” (Latin America): this project looks to improve educational and learning processes using ICTs for teachers and members of communities which are affected by child labour. By the end of the year it had opened 74 classrooms in the 13 countries in which the Proniño programme has been established. The classes are served by ICT experts, the "IT coordinators"
• “Ciberescuela”: is Telefónica's project to promote IT literacy among disadvantaged groups such as the elderly, housewives, immigrants and people living in rural areas. In 2008, it carried out a pilot project in several municipalities in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, reaching more than 600 students with a 98% satisfaction rate