HP Announces Education Partnerships To Support Students, Schools Impacted By COVID-19

HP today announces new education partnerships, blended learning programs and donations around the world to respond to COVID-19. These include Print, Play & Learn, a free HP global resource, as well as initiatives launched in India and China to deliver a combination of educational, engaging and fun online and printed content which support remote teaching and learning - a new reality for millions of teachers, parents and students during this time. 

In India, HP has partnered with Interactive Education company Gamooz Interactive Solutions to provide access of educational content to its customers, from worksheets to 2D Augmented Reality content supported by the Gamooz app to make learning more engaging and fun. HP and Gamooz will also create a community in which educators and students can jointly discuss educational content, problems and solutions. 

The new programs underscore HP’s corporate goal to enable better learning outcomes for 100 million people by 2025 through global educational curricula, equipment donations and on-demand learning tech.  

“A student’s right to education should not be contingent on where they live or their family’s income. We must find creative new ways for teachers and students to connect from a distance – because while this pandemic is creating hardship for so many around the world right now, we cannot afford to let it hold back the generation that will shape our future,” said Enrique Lores, HP President and CEO. “As we mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day this week, it’s an opportunity to reflect on the world around us and how we’re tackling the greatest threats facing society. Whether we’re helping to fight COVID-19 or climate change, it’s in our collective interest to work together on shared solutions,” said Lores.  

New platforms to enhance learning  

HP is partnering with publishing leaders in education to provide hundreds of free printable activities as families transition to life at home. With parents concerned about the effects of shelter-in-place on elementary education, in particular, HP is now offering Print, Play & Learn, for those who have transitioned to learning from home.  

In China, HP and Rise have jointly built a home education ecosystem in China to create a one-stop platform that conveniently converts online education content into paper texting for children’s learning. As the first step of cooperation, HP and Rise jointly launched a 'Learning at Home' educational printer package, including a HP Smart Tank 518 printer, Rise English online courses and live broadcast courses, as well as a customized online learning kit. This partnership will provide convenient hardware support and rich high-quality content for home learning. 

HP also introduced the BeOnline program, an education initiative designed to bring together partners and resources to support remote and distance learning in France, Italy, Spain, Italy, the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. 

PC donations through HP Refresh

HP created HP Refresh, a new program and free solution that uses technology and a Community Activation Playbook to help quickly get remote learning devices to the students who need them. HP Refresh will make sure students can keep learning during this challenging time by helping communities upgrade older PCs that are considered outdated or underpowered. It does this by providing free software that safely wipes and reimages older HP or non-HP PCs with a Linux operating system, web browser, and a web conferencing application, turning older PCs into browser-based remote learning devices and builds around a Community Activation Playbook that empowers local organizations and families to help safely and securely collect, update, and distribute the PCs to students in their communities. 

HP Foundation  

The HP Foundation has contributed US$3M grants in total. US$1M to support affected communities with critical medical supplies, and its board has approved an additional US$2M in grants for COVID-19 relief. The HP Foundation is focused on devoting significant resources to support community response efforts over the coming weeks and months and will be working with both global and local partners to prioritize actions that will have the greatest impact. It will also direct students to the free courses on HP LIFE, a free program of the HP Foundation that offers modules to support skills around entrepreneurship, marketing and business development, and match up to US$4M this year in HP employee donations to any eligible charity. 

HP has also committed to distribute $5 million in product donations supporting Education, SMB and Healthcare entities in underprivileged and underserved communities around the world. Products include laptops, printers, displays and paper.