Cristian Constantin: Samsung’s SEED project brings technology closer to students and teachers

Samsung has launched SEED, a programme that equips classrooms in Romania with state-of-the-art technology, in a bid to support disadvantaged students and advance social inclusion. Business Review talked to Cristian Constantin, Head of Division Enterprise Business Team & CEE Education Strategy Director at Samsung, to find out more about the project.

By Aurel Constantin

What is the main purpose of SEED?

Through the SEED programme, we aim to equip a number of classrooms in several cities in Romania with the latest Samsung technology and thus contribute to the transformation of both teaching and learning. We are global technology leaders and we strongly believe that such a position also comes with a responsibility to contribute to the good of society. That is precisely why we use our expertise and equipment to support students, providing them with access to smart classrooms and to a different way of learning, in which technology becomes their ally.

The concept of Smart Classrooms is a global one; Samsung brings its technology to schools all over the world, including those in South Korea, Australia or India.

How far has the project progressed so far? How many centres have you opened?

We have inaugurated 3 such centres in Oradea, Bacau, and Timisoara, and Bucharest will soon be added to the list. All centres are equipped with Samsung technology and products, each of them featuring two interactive whiteboards, 16 chairs, 16 tablets, and a video conferencing solution.

I would like to highlight the fact that the centre in Bacau has an additional role. In the context in which Bacau continues to be one of the cities with the highest school dropout rates, the educational centre here can also be used for distance teaching. This way, we want to make sure that we also facilitate access to education for disadvantaged children who are forced to drop out of school due to living conditions.

How many students have taken part in the project?

So far, we have had about 1,000 participants, a good start for such a project. Our objective is to facilitate access to technology for as many young people as possible, so we are planning to open such educational centres in every city in Romania.

How important are technology and digitalization in the modern education process?

Technology can no longer be seen as a backup solution; it is a vital component without which the Romanian educational system cannot move forward. The latest Eurostat data shows that countries such as Finland or Ireland are at the top in terms of people with the most skills and knowledge that allow the use of technologies, while only 28 percent of people over 16 in Romania have basic digital skills. So, we can no longer talk about digitalization and technology in education as being something of the future; we have to talk about it now, today.

What needs to happen for schools in Romania to be digitalized?

We are talking about an extremely complicated context. In a recent analysis, the OECD highlighted the biggest challenges for the education system in Romania, beyond the low level of digital education, including: unequal access to education (rural versus urban), the very high impact of socio-economic status on students’ educational results and, implicitly, on their decision to leave school, the need to increase the level of funding, etc. On top of all this is functional illiteracy, which reaches 42 percent, according to the national literacy report.

Collaboration and solid partnerships between the state and the private sector are essential so that together we can contribute to overcoming these challenges step by step. Through SEED, we’ve set out to bring technology closer to students and teachers and to make our know-how available to them. We don’t just equip classrooms, we get actively involved in helping young people and teachers develop their digital skills.

DMCA

PROTECTED