A leading British wealth management firm’s charitable foundation is investing £30,000 in the first stage of World ORT’s plan to establish ICT training in schools for children with special needs throughout Russia.

The St James’s Place Foundation’s support meets the first year’s costs in implementing Bridging the Digital Divide, a four-year, non-sectarian programme to enhance the career prospects of deaf children, and represents the largest single corporate donation in British ORT’s history. The Foundation has earmarked a similar amount for next year subject to progress.

The money will establish fully equipped ICT laboratories at two pilot schools, Boarding School No. 30 in Moscow and Vocational Training Boarding School No. 2 in Tula which together educate some 360 hearing impaired students.

In partnership with Hewlett-Packard, local education authorities and social support services, ORT will use the experience of the Moscow ORT Technology College, which is a pioneer of ICT training and distance learning for hearing impaired students, to develop tailored ICT and computer graphics training materials which will ultimately be shared with all teachers of deaf children for use in their schools.