Mobile World Congress 2023: Since its launch four years ago, the TECH4ALL initiative has facilitated digital inclusion for more than 600 schools worldwide and over 220 000 K12teachers and learners in remote areas.
The project has been extended to reach underserved groups in remote and rural areas, as well as 46 nature reserves, revealed Jeffrey Zhou, president of ICT marketing for Huawei, during a media roundtable this week at MWC Barcelona 2023.
TECH4ALL is Huawei’s long-term digital inclusion initiative designed to promote inclusion and sustainability in the digital world.
Zhou believes partnerships have played a key role in moving towards a more inclusive and sustainable digital world for all. “All of our efforts with the TECH4ALL initiative wouldn’t have been possible without taking technology and partnerships as key enablers.”
Huawei counts Unesco and non-governmental organisation Close the Gap among the partners that have helped advance digital transformation of education and improve digital skills through TECH4ALL.
According to the partners, they have provided connectivity, expanded digital literacy and skills, and supported the STEAM curriculum through projects such as Technology-enabled Open Schools for All, DigiSchool and DigiTruck.
“Digital open schooling models are the manifestation of the digital transformation of school education,” stated Dr Fengchun Miao, chief of unit for technology and artificial intelligence in education for Unesco.
“It’s an open approach to reinventing schooling systems to ensure school education − including knowledge learning, skills development, the fostering of values and social caring − will be secured both under normal and emergency situations.”
“The Unesco-Huawei project Technology-enabled Open Schools for All is having a ground-breaking impact on the building and testing of digital open schools in African countries. The project directly covers more than 20 000 students and more than one million teachers in Ghana, Ethiopia and Egypt.”
The DigiTruck project, which is in association with Close the Gap, provides free digital skills training for remote communities in Africa via a converted shipping container on wheels.
It is equipped with 20 laptops, 20 virtual reality headsets and built-in WiFi, with each DigiTruck serving as a temporary digital school that provides free classes, resources and materials.
Ngosa Mupela, business and investment manager for Close the Gap, explained: “We have partnered with Huawei to develop and deploy DigiTrucks in Africa to rural and peri-urban communities, specifically targeted at preparing the young people in those communities for the digital jobs of the future.”
In addition to digital inclusion in education, TECH4ALL aims to enable sustainable management of natural resources and protecting biodiversity.
Arno Cimadom, representative from the National Park Neusiedler See-Seewinkelin Austria, said the organisation explored the role technology plays in wetland conservation, including protecting biodiversity and studying the effects of climate change on ecosystems.
“Thanks to the new technology provided by Huawei and its partners, we are now for the first time able to collect sound data 24/7, year-round, simultaneously from more than 60 sites and analyse them via AI-models provided by Rainforest Connection.
“This makes research and management in difficult-to-access wetland areas more efficient and allows new investigations,” stated Cimadom.
Share