What is the Digital Access project?
The Digital Access project, is a key part of the government’s broader strategy for the achievement of an inclusive digital education model in Greece. It aims to break down the barriers to digital upskilling for students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and to ensure that every student can fully benefit from the ongoing digital transformation of the educational process, acquiring the digital skills that are necessary to thrive in the global knowledge economy. In doing so, the project builds on the legacy of the successful, universal implementation of synchronous and asynchronous distance learning across the country in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and takes advantage of the transformative opportunity for the holistic digital upgrading of the education system that results from the extensive know-how and digital educational content that were created during this challenging period.
The project will achieve those ends by supplying approximately 600,000 students from low-income families with a voucher for the purchase of a tablet or laptop device. For reasons of social cohesion and in order to achieve inclusive digital upskilling in the country it is paramount that, in the months and years to come, students in socioeconomically disadvantaged families (namely, those targeted by this project) have the equipment that they need in order to reap the benefits of a digitally transformed education system.
In this context, the “Digital Access” program of the Ministries of Finance, Development and Investment, Education and Religious Affairs, Work and Social Affairs and Digital Governance, provides a check (voucher) worth 200 euros for each pupil or college student, which falls under specific income and social criteria, for the purchase of technological equipment (tablet, laptop, desktop).
The “Digital Access” Program strengthens:
- Families of a certain income category with dependent children or children under guardianship, who are
- Pupils and students of eligible educational structures and are within specific age limits.
How will the project unfold?
The support of the families will be carried out in circles, as follows:
CIRCLE A
Beneficiaries of OPEKA Child Benefit for the year 2020 in the first income category if one/some of the dependent children of the family (or children under guardianship), aged 4 to 24 years, study in one of the educational levels eligible for the Program (see Criteria for Dependent Children)
CIRCLE B
Beneficiaries of OPEKA Child Benefit for the year 6000 in the first income category if one/some of the dependent children of the family (or children under guardianship), aged 4 to 24 years, study in one of the educational levels eligible for the Program (see Criteria for Dependent Children)
CIRCLE C
- Approved OPEKA Beneficiaries of the Child Allowance for the year 2020 in the second or third income category with three or more dependent children, who are studying in one of the educational levels eligible for the Program (see Criteria for Dependent Children)
- Approved OPEKA Beneficiaries of the Child Allowance for the year 2020 in the second or third income category with a dependent child who is already eligible for an OPEKA benefit for the disabled, who is studying at one of the training levels eligible for the Program (see Criteria for Dependent Children)
The aid is given in the form of an intangible check with a nominal value of two hundred euros (€ 200), issued for the benefit of the beneficiary and used in the purchase of technological equipment.
The technological equipment that is subsidized may concern:
- Tablets
- Laptops
- Fixed computers (desktops) and optionally, some of their peripherals.
Where is the project aiming?
The project aims to support the educational process with modern digital media, to facilitate children’s access to digital educational materials and to further enhance their digital skills.
“Digital Access” is included in the National Recovery Plan and is one of the first programs at pan-European level to use funds from the European Union Recovery Fund.
What is the amount of the Aid provided to the beneficiaries?
Each family – beneficiary of the Program receives a check (voucher) with a nominal value of € 200 per beneficiary pupil or student who meets the eligibility criteria.
Each check can cover
- the full cost of the eligible equipment (100% aid), or
- part of the total cost if the equipment supplied exceeds the value of the available vouchers, with the remaining amount being covered by the beneficiary.
In any case, the aid/redemption amount may not exceed the actual cost of the eligible equipment supplied, as reflected in the documents of the respective transaction.
If they wish, families with more than one beneficiary child can use more than one vouchers to purchase a computer device. The maximum number of checks that can be used to purchase a single computer device is three. In other words, the amount of the public subsidy per device purchased under the Program cannot exceed six hundred euros (600 €). Also, for each check, the Beneficiaries can purchase only one computer device (for example, one check cannot be used to purchase two tablets.