“Around the Net in 60 Minutes”
– UPC Hungary’s interactive education program for kids
UPC Hungary as one of the biggest internet service providers of the country feels particularly important to draw attention on the benefits and risks of the digital world. Several successful programs were launched by UPC in the recent years to promote digital literacy, such as “Click on it, Grandma!” program for elder users and other tools were also made available for kids and parents as well.
Following the same track UPC Hungary launched a new interactive education program for schoolkids in 2016, called “Around the Net in 60 Minutes”. The core idea of the program is based on the fact that there are several attempts to make the usage of internet easier and safer, but that kind of initiative, which tries to explain the technical background of the internet is still missing, even in public education. Questions like “What actually is the Internet? How can does it reach us? What makes it fast or slow?” are not properly answered. UPC wanted to open the door for the youngsters to get an insight into the background of the system and understand how it works, but all of this in an easy and interactive way.
In 2016 UPC launched the test phase of the lectures and more than 400 elementary school students and their teachers were participated in the program so far. The interactive lectures are written and presented by volunteering UPC technical experts. Schools for children with special educational needs get priority application and this way UPC give a helping hand to diminish the gap in digital literacy and provide more opportunities for these kids to live a better and more quality life.