Google for Education project launched in Moldova

Chisinau, 17 July /MOLDPRES/ - The Education, Culture and Research Ministry (MECC) and the American concern Google today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of Google for Education in Moldova.  

This partnership was facilitated by the Moldova Competitiveness Project, financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Sweden and UK aid through the Clasa Viitorului (Future’s Class) Centre, which will provide consultancy and technical support for the integration of education institutions’ representatives in the process of training and use of the application.      

Teachers and pupils from Moldova will benefit from Google technologies, such as Classroom (interaction between teachers and pupils), Google Meet (organization of online video classes), Google Drive (stocking materials on Cloud and collaboration), Google Sites (organization and presentation of subjects), as well as other applications useful for the education process, which develop digital competences indispensable in the 21st century.  

„The partnership with Google will facilitate the wide implementation of Google for Education applications and technologies in the schools of Moldova, which are so necessary on the period of pandemic we face. Through this partnership, we are set to carry out a training programme in stages, so that we ensure the training of teachers from all over the country and consolidate the distance education process, as well as to be able to use these resources in the context of the traditional education,’’ Education Minister Igor Sarov said.   

The Google for Education technologies have become indispensable on the period of the pandemic, providing to users from all over the world a high level of practicability, innovation and flexibility. Thus, the number Google for Education users increased from 90 million in 2019 to 120 million in 2020.  

Ambassador of the United States to Moldova Dereck J. Hogan welcomed, on behalf of the U.S. Government, the partnership between the American giant Google and the Moldovan government in the education sector. ‘’America is by the side of Moldova in the fight with COVID-19 and the solutions Google for Education bring the technologies in innovations to schools, being intuitive and easy to use. The Google for Education applications are secured and will facilitate the online communication between teachers and pupils, providing a single and integrated platform. Thus, the borders and barriers between cities and villages will be removed and everybody will have equal opportunities, with the education system becoming more inclusive,’’ Dereck J. Hogan said.    

Google will provide specialized assistance for the connection of schools to the Google for Education applications and technologies and will facilitate the training of teachers and students in the use of the new technologies.

On the period of the COVID-19 crisis, the Future Class National Centre of Digital Innovations in Education, in partnership with Google, facilitated the access to a suite of Google for Education applications for 600 teachers from 150 schools of Moldova. A string of explanatory videos were made with the support of the Moldova Competitiveness Project, which initiated teachers in the process of use of Google applications. Till next autumn, MECC will extend the training programme nationally and will provide trainings in stages for 16,000 teachers. The trainings will take place on the period 6 August - 15 September 2020, online, in groups of 35 people at the most, distributed in districts and municipalities.