Gütersloh, 12/12/2016

€600,000 for Primary Schools in Gütersloh

Donation hand-over: Joachim Martensmeier, Henning Schulz, Immanuel Hermreck and Roland Thiesbrummel (f. l.)

Subject: Society
Country: Germany
Category: Charitable Donations

More than 3,500 primary school children in Gütersloh can look forward to improved computer equipment: Bertelsmann has donated a total of €600,000 to the city to expand and modernize the IT equipment in the 17 local primary schools. The money will fund mobile IT end devices for educational purposes in the next few months.

Bertelsmann's Chief HR Officer Immanuel Hermreck says: "As a media and education company, it is of special interest for us to teach young people the necessary skills for handling digital media early on. This, however, requires up-to-date IT equipment in primary schools. We are therefore especially delighted to pledge our support to creating ideal preconditions for education and learning in the digital world in our home city. I am also very pleased with the fact that the biggest Bertelsmann donation in recent years benefits children right here in Gütersloh."

Accompaniment with educational concepts

 

Gütersloh's Mayor Henning Schulz is happy: "This donation comes at just the right time. It enables us to take the first big step towards implementing the future-oriented 'IT In Schools' program in the short term. The comprehensive equipment of the primary schools forms the basis for the responsible handling of various media and the connected educational work. I would like to thank Bertelsmann for this generous support, which once more emphasizes the company's deep connection with the location. It takes us an enormous step forward in the realization of our goal to equip our schools to a uniform standard and in a sustainable way."

The partners involved agree that the use of modern IT technology in primary schools needs to be accompanied by educational concepts. Joachim Martensmeier, department head of education, youth, family and social affairs of the city of Gütersloh, says: "Making the pupils in our schools confident actors as they face the challenges and possibilities of the digital world is a task that rests on many shoulders. The school authorities create the technical and infrastructure conditions, while the schools are responsible for the educationally sound handling and use of the equipment. The increasing importance of digital education means continuous learning for all. The will to do this exists, and we are absolutely delighted that Bertelsmann is supporting us to this extent!"

According to studies, Germany has a general shortage of technical equipment in schools. A representative survey of the Bitkom digital association shows that 89 percent of the teachers in secondary school believe that content and contexts can be represented in a much better way with the help of digital media. Half of all teachers would like to use digital media more frequently during lessons – however, according to the study, this is often impossible due to the lack of equipment.