Verne and Ofar donate technology to Reykjanesbær school

Students at Háaleitisskóli in Reykjanesbær can look forward to a technology-focused school year after the school received computers and equipment from Verne, which operates a data centre near the school, and technology company Ofar, mbl.is reported.

A group of students aged eight to 14 and school principal Unnar Stefán Sigurðsson accepted the donation on Friday. It included Chromebook computers for students in grades eight to 10, replacing the tablets they had been using, as well as 3D printers, robots and other equipment for the school’s innovation and technology centre.

Sigurðsson said the school was extremely pleased with the donation and that Verne was making a substantial contribution to the local community.

“This is a godsend for us. With the funding available to me, it would otherwise have taken many years to build up what Verne is giving us all at once,” he told Morgunblaðið.

The partnership developed after Sigurðsson and Styrmir Hafliðason, a Verne executive, began discussing ways to work together. They decided to support the school’s innovation and technology centre, which has received particular emphasis because Háaleitisskóli does not offer craft classes.

The school’s tenth-grade students visited Verne’s data centre last winter and, according to Sigurðsson, were very pleased with the visit. School officials have offered to provide lessons for Verne employees, including help for those who want to learn Icelandic.

More than 70 per cent of the school’s students have an immigrant background and a first language other than Icelandic. Many Verne employees are also from abroad, and English is the main language spoken there. Sigurðsson said the idea of providing lessons was still being developed.