Morawiecki met with reporters at a school in the southeastern town of Nowa Sarzyna, alongside Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek, to brief them on the government's technology-for-schools initiative, called Laboratories of the Future, the state PAP news agency reported.
Earlier, he and Czarnek visited the school’s robotics lab, which had been furnished thanks to a public grant.
Morawiecki said the government's Laboratories of the Future initiative “is a project designed to give every pupil, every young man, every child, access to interesting modern technologies so that they can develop their abilities in very diverse directions.”
He added that every child was “a rough diamond,” but needed support to realise their potential.
“This support is provided precisely through the Laboratories of the Future programme, among other efforts,” Morawiecki said. “We want 15,000 schools to benefit from this initiative to begin with, and even more in the future, including 12,000 non-publicly-owned schools.”
He added: "This means each school will get around PLN 100,000-120,000 (EUR 22,000-26,000)."
EUR 220 million for new tech
Meanwhile, Czarnek, the education and science minister, told reporters the government had allocated PLN 1 billion (EUR 220 million) for Laboratories of the Future, helping schools create modern tech workshops, IT labs and interdisciplinary programmes focusing on sciences such as chemistry, physics and geography.
Czarnek also said that the government has provided PLN 2 billion (EUR 440 million) for IT technology in schools since the pandemic began almost two years ago.
Part of the government's wide-ranging Polish New Deal initiative, the Laboratories of the Future effort aims to supply Poland’s elementary schools with funds to purchase modern equipment, the PAP news agency reported.
The appliances are expected to help children learn to cooperate, be creative, solve problems and master new skills.
Under the project, schools can buy 3D printers, microcontrollers, audio and video-recording equipment, soldering irons and related accessories, as well as additional equipment such as handiwork tools, VR goggles and teaching aids, according to officials.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP