Puttnam backs levelling of technological field

Cork-based David Puttnam is backing an initiative which provides revamped computers and IT training to disadvantaged schools. It’s levelling the technological playing field, writes Claire Droney

GOT an old laptop under a bed? Or a desktop computer gathering dust in a spare room? Camara Ireland wants it. It will take it, wipe it clean, refurbish it, install Windows or Linux on it, protect it with an antivirus, and sell it cheaply to disadvantaged schools in Ireland, Africa, Jamaica and Haiti, as well as training the teachers in the latest ed-tech advances.

A social enterprise model, part-run by volunteers, the goal of Camara Ireland (a branch of Camara Education) is to increase the number of digitally literate children and enhance education through technology. Started in Ireland in 2005, the organisation recently celebrated the shipment of its 40,000th computer.