September 13, 2016, Freudenberg Corporation successfully set up a green IT classroom in Qixin School in Wujiang District, Suzhou. This is also the 64th IT classroom Netspring has established in China.
Local TV station reported this event. Click here to watch the video.
September 13, 2016, Freudenberg Corporation successfully set up a green IT classroom in Qixin School in Wujiang District, Suzhou. This is also the 64th IT classroom Netspring has established in China.
Bettina Schoen, Regional Representative Asia for the Freudenberg Group , and CEO of Freudenburg Asia Pacific Region, Retro Bless, led a dozen of volunteers from Freudenberg Shanghai and Suzhou offices to join in the launch ceremony along with 620 students and teachers at the school.
Bettina Schoen who is from Germany, delivered a fluent speech in Chinese during the ceremony. She expressed hope that the classroom, equipped with 25 recycled computers from Freudenberg company, would be put to good use by holding voluntary activities over the next 3 years and that it would help students master computer skills and cultivate an eco-friendly concept.
In the new fall semester, we will cooperate with enterprises and foundations to build up new Green IT Classrooms in different areas including Guangxi, Shaanxi and Jiangzu provinces. Above 2000 students are estimated to be benefited.
Besides, the IT courseware and Scratch contest will be introduced to the Green IT Classrooms as well to ensure students learn to use computers in an effective way.
In the first 6 months of this year, Netspring received 840 unused desktops and laptops and refurbished 25% among them. Most of the refurbished computers have already been sent to IT classrooms in schools for use, and the rest are waiting for delivery to schools in the new fall semester. Besides, there are another 443 computers waiting for test and refurbish, and the successfully refurbished computers will be sent to Green IT Classroom as well.
The electronic goods that cannot be refurbished were and will be all dismantled in an eco-friendly way by qualified professionals.
To make it convenient, Netspring started in the second quarter to open our office on the last Saturday of every month to receive unused electronic goods from individuals and enterprises.
An engineer from Argentina, Rodolfo Cossovich, collaborated with Netspring to launch a pilot class of teaching pupils to use Scratch® coding software in a migrant school in Taicang. The teaching program lasted for 3 days in Sangang Elementary School, Taicang. . Over 10 students from Grade 4 and Grade 5 in the school joined in the program and learnt to create basic computer games built on stories and animations they had designed themselves using the software. The experience proved to be invaluable in terms of teaching and learning during this pilot program and has better prepared Netspring with the planning of its nationwide Scratch coding contest to be launched across the schools in which it had Green IT classrooms in October this year.
Netspring went to Yioulai Shopping Street in Suzhou for a 2-day donation drive activity open to Amcham members in Suzhou area. This joint activity has been held for several years between Netspring and Amcham. The used or spare electronic goods donated by Amcham members such as computers, projectors, and screens have been put into use in dozens of green IT classrooms across China. Following the success of 2015 drive, AmCham and Netspring decided to open more dropping points and to run the drive on 2 days instead of one.
In the previous three years collaborating with AmCham, Netspring has received over 1235 used computers, refurbished 827 sets of computers, and supported 30 schools and community centers by setting up Green IT Classrooms for about 13694 underprivileged students. In addition, the e-waste has been properly handled and recycled in an eco-friendly manner to prevent any harm to the environment.
Netsrping went to the Wellington College in Shanghai to receive the donation of over 300 kg used electric goods from “Friends of Wellington” and Wellington College. “Friends of Wellington” is a network founded when the school opened its doors in August 2014. The group consists of parents, teachers and members of the community.
A group of DTZ employees went to Chengdu Yuren Elementary School to set up its Green IT classroom for the underprivileged children of migrant workers. The school headmaster Meng, DTZ China CEO- Zhang Guozheng, and officials from the local education bureau made speeches respectively during the opening ceremony.
DTZ entered the China market long ago with a mission to launch a large scale urbanization project. Previously, DTZ conducted a survey on migrant worker children in different cities across China. The survey shows that migrant workers lead hard lives in the cities they move to,,and their children do not enjoy full citizenship rights. Most of the migrant workers’ children face challenges after the 9-year compulsory education program such as relocating to their hometowns for further studies, or dropping out of te formal education system.
On June 1st, the Netspring team set off to Nanchong with the purpose of revisiting one of PwC (Price Waterhouse Coopers) sponsored mountain village schools and holds an IT activity with three corporate volunteers from PwC to celebrate nationwide Children’s Day.
For the activity, Netspring gave training to the volunteers using materials created by Thirst for Water, an NGO based in China that promotes awareness about water conservation. The next morning, Netspring and PwC set off on a three hour journey from Chongqing to the countryside surrounding Nanchong. Xincitang Primary School is located in a stunning hillside village, and is the school of 58 local village children. We were warmly welcomed by the headmaster who drove down the winding alleyways on his scooter to meet us at the foot of the hill and help us find our way to the school. When we finally arrived, we were greeted by the curious children who were eager to talk and show us around their school.
On 18th of May, 15 volunteers from Owens Corning made the long trip to Bozhi Migrant School located in the outskirts of Beijing, to mark the opening of their new Green IT classroom. The company volunteers came from Tianjin, Beijing and Shanghai, holding two activities at the school: an IT class in the new computer room, followed by a handicraft activity.
Located in the remote area of Beijing, Bozhi school is a non-governmental funded school severing the children of Beijing’s migrant population - the thousands of unregistered migrant labourers who have flocked to the city over the last decade. Affordable and based in the communities where migrant workers live, the school offers an attractive alternative to the more expensive, government-run schools.
