SPAIN: Students work to bring technology to rural village
More than 20 project activities scheduled over 4 days
SPAIN
(MissionNewswire) First-year students at the Salesian Don Bosco Center in Logroño, Spain, recently participated in the #HackRural training project focusing on digital transformation of the rural village of San Martín de Jubera, which has no electricity grid and almost no mobile network coverage. The students are part of dual vocation training at the center and taking courses in administration of information systems in networks and development of multiplatform applications.
The project was organized by TICandBOT, a company created eight years ago by a teacher from the center. The goal is to teach students how to create a communication infrastructure, contracting the Starlink satellite internet service, at the old school in the village. Students also learned to develop applications as if they were in an office in an urban environment. The project combined rural entrepreneurship, new technologies and educational innovation.
More than 20 project activities were scheduled over four days and included the involvement of local information and communication technologies companies. In addition to developing the services, students had the opportunity to learn more about the community by taking part in beekeeping and milking workshops, as well as visiting the mines at Jubera.
One of the project teachers said, “These were unforgettable days of shared life between students, teachers and professionals without forgetting the typical good things in the area. We want to pay credit to all the students from our school who participated in the project for their attitude, proactivity and know-how which they developed and put into practice during these days.”
Salesian missionaries have also been working for many years to provide educational and workforce development opportunities for poor youth and women in Spain through residential, technical, and vocational training programs.
Close to 32% of young Spanish workers under the age of 25 are unemployed and a growing number of them can’t afford to buy enough food to live. Poor youth with few employable skills struggle the most to find and retain stable employment. Women in Spain face inequality in the workforce. They earn up to 14% less than men and represent only 34.5% of those listed as the highest earners in Spain.
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Sources:
ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)
Salesian Missions – Spain
World Bank – Spain
