Supporting the development of future competencies
Future Labs is a program whereby every elementary school can get funds to purchase equipment to develop future competencies among students. These include 3D printers, microcontrollers with accessories, and educational robots, but schools can choose from nearly 200 different types of equipment — from hand tools to virtual reality goggles. The initiative is being implemented under Polish rule and is funded by the COVID-19 Fighting Fund.
As part of the programme, the authorities managing primary schools (including, for example, private or sports schools) received up to:
- PLN 30,000 – in the case of schools with up to 100 students,
- 60,000 PLN – in the case of schools from 101 to 200 students,
- 70,000 PLN – for schools from 201 to 234 students,
- PLN 300 per student – in the case of schools of 235 students.
Future Labs – for every school in the country
The response to the program announced in September has been huge, both during the consultation of the equipment catalog — some 4,000 suggestions from schools, business, university NGOs, educators and students — and the implementation of the program itself. More than 99% of the less than 12,000 schools can apply for financial support in the first batch of the program, including over 95% of each district. The requests of the local governments were sent to the Voivodeship, who all approved them. As a result, nearly a billion zlotys have already gone to schools across the country. Support is provided entirely in advance, with no personal contribution required.
The laboratories of the future are an opportunity for every primary school in Poland to make a quantum leap towards modern education and we can see that schools are already taking that step today by purchasing the latest equipment. It is particularly gratifying that all schools have applied – it shows that education for the future is something everyone cares about and thanks to this combined effort 3 million students will be able to use the latest equipment. I would like to thank the Voivodship offices, the Board of Education, local governments and schools for the cooperation so far – Przemyslav Czarnik, Minister of Education and Science.
Other Steps in “Future Labs”
As part of the first phase of the program, local government-run schools, which have until August 31 to purchase equipment, have applied. In the second phase, to be launched next year, the program will be expanded to include schools run by other entities (including non-public entities) and Polish schools abroad. The objective of the program is that as of the 2022/23 academic year, equipment will be delivered to every primary school in Poland.
How the Polish economy and society develop depends on how well modern Polish education has developed. Thanks to the laboratories of the future, more than 1 billion PLN will go to schools from all over Poland. Thanks to this, Poland has already become the first country with such modern equipment in every primary school. This is in line with scientific research and the postulates of Polish businessmen – Justyna Orłowska, Delegate of the Prime Minister for Government Technology and Delegate of the Minister of Education and Science for Digital Transformation.
Program website and hotline
The initiative is supported by a special website available at gov.pl/laboratoria. Through it, schools and their governing bodies can submit requests, reports, as well as see the most important information, including equipment catalog.
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