Fundación Telefónica, ProFuturo and Fundación Secretariado Gitano join forces to bridge the digital divide and tackle school early leaving rates among young Roma [editar]

The school early leaving rate among young Roma (young people aged between 16 and 24 who do not complete Compulsory Secondary Education) stands at around 63%, compared to 4% of the general population in Spain. This is an alarming situation that highlights the huge gap in opportunities for progress among the Roma community.

As an alternative to address this situation, Fundación Secretariado Gitano launched the Promociona programme in 2009, with funding from the European Social Fund. This is an initiative providing educational support and guidance aimed at Roma students and their families. Its main objective is to ensure that more young Roma complete Compulsory Secondary Education and go on to further education. Among its key initiatives are the “Promociona Classrooms”, spaces for educational support and reinforcement, where Roma students and their families receive personalised attention through educational guidance. The programme operates in 53 localities across 13 Spanish autonomous communities and reaches more than 1,600 students and their families each academic year. Furthermore, it collaborates with over 500 schools across Spain. Thanks to this model, around 85% of students complete their Compulsory Secondary Education and over 90% go on to post-compulsory education, demonstrating its positive impact on improving the educational pathways of Roma youth.

With this same focus, Telefónica Foundation, and the ProFuturo technology innovation programme, promoted by Telefónica Foundation and “la Caixa” Foundation, have signed an agreement with Fundación Secretariado Gitano, setting as their challenge the provision of extracurricular support and training in digital skills for students and their families, as well as training for teachers on the Promociona programme and other professionals at the organisation.

The collaboration thus continues the strategic partnership that Telefónica Foundation and Fundación Secretariado Gitano had been developing, aimed at promoting academic success, reducing the digital divide and fostering the labour market inclusion of young Roma in Spain, which has taken the form of workshops and training sessions focused on digital literacy, the safe use of technology and digital rights, with the aim of preventing the digital divide from exacerbating the labour market and institutional exclusion of this community.

This new agreement will strengthen the involvement of Telefónica Volunteers in school support activities, as well as providing teachers with access to online courses from the ProFuturo programme on Artificial Intelligence, Neurodidactics, Gamification and Educational Innovation.

Isabel Salazar, Director General of Telefónica Foundation, emphasised that “this agreement brings to life Telefónica’s social and cultural commitment to offering the educational and employability potential of technology to the most vulnerable people”.

For her part, Sara Giménez, FSG’s Director General, stressed that “tackling the educational challenge within the Roma community is essential because education is the primary tool for breaking cycles of social exclusion and inequality. Roma children and young people continue to face very high rates of school failure and early leaving, educational segregation and other barriers that limit their future opportunities, which is why it is so important to have the support of great partners such as Telefónica  Foundation and Profuturo”.