To help students keep up with their studies during the coronavirus pandemic, Google will donate 4,000 Chromebooks and 100,000 WiFi hotspots to households in California.
The initiative, which was announced by California governor Gavin Newsom and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, will allow students to get access to free and unlimited Wi-Fi for a minimum of three months.
In California, EdSource reports that 20 percent of students can’t get on the internet. Google’s donation could cut this number in half, according to California State Board of Education Linda Darling-Hammond.
“We’re providing 4,000 Chromebooks to California students in greatest need & free wifi to 100,000 rural households during the #COVID19 crisis to make distance learning more accessible,” Pichai wrote in a tweet. California’s schools are scheduled to remain closed through the end of the school year.
According to SFGate Governor Newsom estimates California needs an additional 162,013 hotspots on top of the 100,000 hotspots Google will provide to meet the needs of the state’s students. To that end, the governor called on other companies to match Google’s donation. “We need more Googles,” he told the publication.
The donation is Google’s latest attempt to help during the ongoing crisis. In March, the company’s sibling healthcare brand, Verily, started developing a website to allow people in the US to screen themselves for COVID-19, directing them to drive-thru testing sites if needed.
