Solar Learning Lab in Mexico City, Mexico

Computer Aid International, in partnership with Dell, has launched a Dell Solar Powered Learning Lab in San Mateo Atenco, Mexico City.

Mexico City is dense urban area with large parts of the population living in vulnerable communities (C-, D & E Mexican socioeconomic classes are below the urban poverty line). The youth living in these areas have been traditionally served by the public education system and therefore in most cases, they are deprived of a good quality education and access to new technology and much-needed ICT skills to compete with more privileged youth from private schools in other areas of the city. The socio-economic gap is still hindering the change of many of the youth in the city.

Our aim is to run the Solar Learning Lab program at the Escuela Benito Juarez Elementary School located in the Reforma district; this will not only impact the students at the school but will also benefit the whole community by giving them access to quality learning experiences promoting STEM subjects & ICT for children and youth. We seek to promote not only ICT and STEM subjects, but also 21st century skills and abilities that the global economy will require from Mexican youth in the years to come. Within the lab, we will be teaching the children and adults in groups of 20; they will study ICT and robotics, programming, mechanics and other available courses such as: entrepreneurship, coding, servers maintenance and English to name a few. The educational model of Robotix goes beyond teaching technical skills, because it will allow children and young people to learn, identify and solve real life problems while having fun. The project will use the Solar Learning Lab to enable the delivery of the Robotix curriculum, an innovative methodology and deliver Life Skills for up to 5520 students.