Although virtuality has expanded educational opportunities, connectivity gaps still persist in Peru. Poverty rates and Internet access in remote areas prevent us from continuing to facilitate virtual education in our country. That is why, in an effort to facilitate access to virtual training for people in vulnerable situations, the Romero Foundation and Entel signed an alliance so that all beneficiaries of the Grupo Romero Scholarships who are Entel users can access the Campus Romero virtual courses without consuming your data.
The Romero Foundation, within its efforts to promote entrepreneurship education, has a Scholarship program so that more Peruvians can train and develop their entrepreneurship and employability skills. Thus, this year it presented Signs of Progress Scholarships, with courses interpreted in sign language for people with hearing disabilities, Scholarships for Inclusion, intended for users of social programs of the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, and Silver Generation Scholarships, with courses directed to adults over 50 years of age. The alliance with Entel seeks to extend the benefits of free zone to all these segments of scholarship holders, ensuring that they continue their preparation and strengthen their skills in a constantly evolving digital educational environment.
Starting November 16, all beneficiaries of the Grupo Romero Scholarships, who are Entel users, will be able to access the courses of the Romero Virtual Campus, Grupo Romero’s training platform, without consuming their data, thus guaranteeing complete access and free online education. The free zone will have a daily limit of 200 mb per line and will be valid for one year once you have entered the courses through www.becasgruporomero.pe
“This alliance is part of our commitment to the families of Peru; we are aware that connectivity is one of the fundamental pillars for fair access to quality education. At the Romero Foundation, we want to ensure that none of our scholarship recipients are left behind due to lack of resources to access the Internet. With this collaboration we hope to benefit more than 24% of our scholarship recipients, which are approximately 360 thousand Peruvians who will be able to continue studying and training, in order to enhance their businesses and ventures,” says Martín Pérez Monteverde, executive director of Fundación Romero.
The initiative represents a great step to continue reducing connectivity gaps in favor of education. Although 81.5% of the residents of the D/E sectors have access to the internet (Osiptel, 2021) and 86.3% of rural households have at least one cellular device, many of them have little monthly coverage to maintain a fixed connection throughout the day (INEI, 2023).
“We are proud to be part of this initiative that seeks to eliminate barriers to access to education. At Entel, we know the digital challenges that exist in Peru, therefore, we firmly believe in the transformative power of connectivity and we are committed to making it accessible to all our users, especially for those who seek to enhance their skills and knowledge through education. online,” concludes Nino Boggio, Manager of Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Relations at Entel.
