In a little over a month, the Institute for Youth Development KULT and our local partners received more than 650 requests for devices that would allow students to continue their school year online. We received requests from all parts of the country, and some came from Bileća, a small town in East Herzegovina. Several of the Institute’s employees spent the day with Bileća students and donated 14 laptops and 2 desktop computers. All the computers were given directly to students who will be using them, and will keep them even after they’re back in their classrooms.
The computers were collected through the initiative “Education for All”, and since Bileća doesn’t have a local collection point, the Institute’s employees decided to take the computers to their new owners themselves.
“He doesn’t have a computer or a tablet, or anything, so how can he attend class online?”, worries Slađana, mom of one of the students we visited. Thanks to the support of the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), businesses and individuals, Slađana’s family and 15 other families now have everything their children need to attend class online.
“This is great, we weren’t too hopeful, but we tried although we didn’t really expect much, but now you’re here. Thank you, I really don’t have words to express how grateful we are. Now he’ll be able to finish 4th grade without a problem,” said Slađana.
Directors of schools in Bileća also expressed gratitude and support for the initiative, while noting that there are still several families who need tablets.
Together with local partners, the Institute has so far donated almost 400 tablets and laptops in 13 communities in BiH, and is planning to donate another 200. If you would like to join this initiative, you can donate new of used equipment to any of the local collection points. You can find a list of all collection points here.
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