e-Twinning initiative welcomes its 10,000th school
The Apostolos Varvanas Lyceum in Cyprus became the 10,000th school to register with the Commission's e-Twinning action, designed to add a European dimension to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in schools. The initiative was launched in January 2005 under the European e-Learning programme, to encourage the formation of school partnerships over the Internet. Already some 1,500 secondary and primary schools are involved in joint projects with one or more partner across Europe thanks to the scheme. Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism, Ján Figel', said: 'The e-Twinning action differs from our other education programmes because instead of funding individual projects, it provides an infrastructure, tools and services to make it as easy as possible for schools to form all types of partnership [...]. It is a very effective way to foster the use of ICT, language and intercultural skills in school education.' Thérèse Hagberg, a teacher at a secondary school in Sweden which is part of the scheme, said: 'e-Twinning has contributed to increasing our European contacts and has opened our school to the surrounding world.' Prizes for the best e-Twinning projects will be awarded for the first time at a ceremony in Linz, Austria, in January 2006.