Intel maintains commitment to education

Despite dismal economic times, Intel, creator of the Classmate PC, an associated software stack, and a pedagogical model for its use in schools, has reaffirmed its commitment to education. Today, the company announced that it had achieved its goal of 1 million volunteer hours from its employees. According to the press release,

For example, earlier this year, Intel CEO Paul Otellini pledged that in honor of the corporation’s 40th anniversary, Intel employees would collectively give one million hours of volunteer time back to their communities. Additionally, Otellini announced that Intel would expand the company’s long-time volunteer matching grant program, to match volunteer hours at local schools and non-profit organizations with cash grants from the Intel Foundation. On Friday, Dec. 5, which is the United Nations’ International Volunteer Day, the company will announce that the one million hour milestone has been reached and that it will donate more than $8 million to its communities

Perhaps more importantly from our perspective, the Intel Foundation will donate "$120 million commitment to encourage more youth to participate in math and science (the single largest donation ever by the Foundation.)".

With states and municipalities cutting back drastically in the face of lower revenues, public schools are increasingly strapped for cash. While basic instruction in core subjects will obviously go on, technology and supplemental programs are easy lines to cut. More than ever, though, we need to integrate technology into the curriculum in the same way that it is woven into the business environment. I look forward to Intel (and other major corporations) funding new programs that drive innovative teaching with technology; we should be way beyond just getting more computers in schools and Intel has demonstrated a clear understanding of this trend with the programs surrounding their Classmate PC, among many other educational efforts.