Bridging the Digital Divide in Varanda

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, schools around the world have been closing and classes have been moving online. For Varanda, a small Armenian village in the Republic of Artsakh on the Azeri border, this is not an option. The village has limited internet access and lacks the appropriate technology to enable online learning. The village school has resorted to holding classes outside, exposed to the elements, to try to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Varanda School has only two dozen students. Its small size has made instructional modernization challenging. Providing schools like these with the proper technology will not only significantly lower the risk of the virus spreading today, but also connect them to the online learning infrastructure for the future.

Support of this project will help obtain 33 tablets for the Varanda School, enough for 20 students, 9 teachers and four extra, should any break. Training on how to properly use the tablets will be provided by the Ohanyan School in Yerevan, Armenia free of charge. The students and their teachers then will be able to connect with online classes at Ohanyan School and an expanding network of other schools, which will be conducting online classes this coming Fall.

Once enough funding is raised to equip the Varanda School with their tablets, this project will expand to include aid to five more projected border villages, which also lack the needed technology to support online learning. All six schools will eventually join remote classes courtesy of the Ohanyan School in Yerevan.