Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính at the launching ceremony of the “Internet and computers for students” programme on Sunday night in Hà Nội. VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — The 'Internet and computers for students' programme is very humanistic and meaningful.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính made the statement on Sunday night when he launched the programme at a virtual meeting with 63 provinces and cities.

PM Chính said supporting millions of disadvantaged students with internet and computers to learn online now would be supporting an entire generation.

The programme is designed to provide millions of computers for disadvantaged students to serve learning online nationwide, especially for students living in areas hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the meeting, the PM said: “Reducing difficulties for disadvantaged students today is reducing the burden on society for many decades to come.”

“Helping children learning today is taking care of the speed and quality of the country's development in the future,” he added.

Internet and computers for students not only provided physical connections for learning online but also a stronger connection between people, regions, as well as the present with the future, he said.

The programme, which was co-implemented by the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Education and Training, had profound social and humanistic meanings, he said.

Learning online was a suitable method as many provinces and cities had applied social distancing measures, he added.

However, learning online would require the education sector and teachers to adjust teaching methods so students could gain knowledge in the most effective way, he said.

PM Chính also said accessing computers and cyberspace would be a new and exciting experience for children that would open up a new horizon with interesting knowledge. But, it would be also potentially dangerous for them if the school and family did not proactively take preventive measures.

Data from the education ministry showed that as of September 12, online teaching and learning had been deployed in 26 out of 63 provinces and cities across the country. The number of students participating in online studying is estimated to be 7.35 million, including 1.5 million students who do not have computers.

In disadvantaged areas, about 50-70 per cent of students suffered a lack of online learning equipment and many villages did not have internet connectivity, the ministry said.

Even in big cities like Hà Nội and HCM City, many students also do not have facilities for online learning. Statistics by the HCM City’s Education and Training Department show that more than 70,000 students lack facilities to study online in the city.

The programme, worth over VNĐ6 trillion (US$262 million), is scheduled to be implemented in two phases.

In the first phase, one million computers would be provided to disadvantaged students, especially students living in provinces and cities that applied social distancing measures, in 2021.

In the second phase, the programme will mobilise all resources in society to provide computers for all disadvantaged students in the country in 2022-23.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng said the goal of the programme was to ensure that no student would be left behind, no students could not finish their academic programme due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. — VNS