9 August 2011

Minsk, Belarus, August 9, 2011 – Today the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, HTP Administration and Intel Corporation signed the Protocol of Intentions on Cooperation in ICT sphere in System of Education. 

The document was signed by the representatives of three parties: Kazimir Farino, Deputy Minister of Education, Alexander Martinkevich, Deputy Director of HTP Administration and Alexander Kozlinski, CIS Business Development Director of Intel Corporation. 

HTP hosted the signing ceremony and the press conference dedicated to the event.

The purpose of the protocol is to establish and to develop long-term cooperation in the implementation of modern ICT in the education system of the Republic of Belarus. 

The Ministry of Education, HTP Administration and Intel Corporation expressed mutual interest in collaboration in ICT application at educational process, emphasizing the importance of the national education system improvement and the development of innovative learning environment, which would correspond to the goals and objectives of the XXI century.

The signed document provides vast opportunities for Belarusian teachers and pupils such as to participate in the international educational program called Education for the Future. It will also allow adopting world experience from the best projects on IT integration into educational process and will lay foundation for a number of joint projects. 

Already in September of this year the first pilot project on approbation of innovative 1:1 e-learning environment will start in Belarusian schools. 

”We are working hard on the content of the pilot program on implementing netbooks in education process, - said Deputy Minister of Education Kazimir Farino. – Teaching effectiveness of PCs usage in the course of school education is very important to us. And the experiment is expected to prove the effectiveness. “

Within the framework of the project HTP resident companies together with Minsk Production Association of Computer Engineering Techniques will equip one school in Vasilishki village (Grodno region), one school in Novopolotsk and two schools in Minsk with Classmate PCs, which will be connected with teacher’s laptop via Wi-Fi and will have the Internet access. 

First training for the teachers, participants of the pilot project, will be held on August 22-26, 2011 on the basis of India-Belarus Digital Learning Centre in ICT within the program Intel ® Teach (Intel ® Teaching For the Future). The attendees will be trained and will gain practical skills on using modern computer educational technologies. 

From September, 2011 to May, 2012 the pupils of elementary schools will have an opportunity to use e-learning tools every day. 

All programs under the reached agreements are realized through the support and participation of the Ministry of Education