The Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, led by Tiziana Catarci, promoted the Device Drive project to donate a computer for distance learning to school-age students from 170 families below the poverty line. The project is a collaboration between the Sant'Egidio community and DLA Piper, an international law firm based in Rome, which provided the discarded laptops for professional activities. The devices, cleaned and formatted by a team of students led by Andrea Vitaletti of Sapienza University, were donated to children and young people to combat school drop-out (65% primary school, 31% middle school).

The project came about following the alarm raised by the Community of Sant'Egidio, an international Christian association dedicated to social service, which highlighted in a survey the difficulties families in Rome with children aged between 6 and 10 have in accessing distance learning during the lockdown.

Our students are available to continue training with the families involved in the project.