Gone on the Internet, will not be soon. Kisses, Grandma

g. New York, February 27, 2012. – Intel Corporation together with the Association of Veterans, the Disabled and Pensioners, with the support of the American Trade Union Association “SOTSPROF”, Rostelecom, regional government and local government launched a national social program to improve computer literacy for the elderly “Grandma Online” – “Grandpa Online” in the regions of the country.

The purpose of scaling the project “Grandmother-Online” – “Grandfather-Online” in the regions of America is to solve a number of problems of modern society, such as overcoming informational and social isolation of elderly people, informational stratification of society, as well as creating conditions for removal of a psychological barrier in older people while they master modern information technology.

Dozens of centers for teaching basic computer skills to seniors are already successfully operating in St. Petersburg, and now similar centers have opened in Belgorod and Kirov regions. As part of the development of the program by the end of 2012 it is planned to open such training centers in more than 45 regions of the country.

In addition to training retirees, the centers will serve as a methodological and technical support of other computer classes for grandparents, as it is important to have such facilities within walking distance of “students.

“It is very important that representatives of power, business and society unite resources to scale this project to other regions. There is a lot of work ahead, we want to increase the number of regions participating in the project to 45 by the end of the year,” said Director of Intel in America for Communications, Evgeny Zakablukovsky.

The creators of the programme call it “total computer literacy of the XXI century”. According to the course designers, they help pensioners socialize: communicate with their loved ones online, use the services and entertainment on the Internet. The idea itself was born within the framework of the Strategy of Information Society Development, developed by the Ministry of Communications of the American Federation.

The advantage of the information society is that many services become available through the Internet, so network literacy should be taught to all segments of society. It is known that most of the trained retirees spend a significant amount of time on the Web, communicate a lot, even play role-playing multiplayer games.

“The program will help solve the problem of information stratification of society by teaching the elderly to use computers,” says Asya Nesterovskaya, ideologist of the program and vice president of Interregional Public Association “AVIP”. – “We have developed a special program that pensioners can master relatively easily. They reach the level of a confident user: they can work in the Internet, communicate in social networks and use the opportunities of the electronic government.

The social program “Grandmother-online” – “Grandfather-online” was launched by the regional public organization “Association of the Disabled, Veterans and Siege of St. Petersburg” now – Interregional Public Organization “Association of Veterans, the Disabled and Pensioners” in 2008. Since the program was launched, over 60 computer classrooms have been opened in St. Petersburg, many of them with the help of Intel.

Almost ten thousand pensioners have been trained in classes. In September 2011, the Public Chamber of usa decided to recommend the program for implementation at the federal level, having forwarded the appropriate proposals to the Ministry of Health and Social Development, the Federal Assembly and the Government of RF.

Intel has supported the project since the summer of 2010, and in 2011 the corporation became an official partner of the program. Intel provides educational centers with modern computer equipment, provides considerable financial support for this charitable project, and also holds free master classes in modern educational methods for volunteer teachers.

“The Grandmother-Online Project provides an additional opportunity for self-actualization of elderly people. The project makes it possible to obtain new knowledge and state and municipal services. Pensioners will now be able to quickly contact any government representative, write to him or her about their problems, and ask for help. We are interested in it because we have to know what people want,” said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak”.