Sprint Foundation has revealed that approximately 7,600 students in Chicago will be provided with free mobile devices as well as wireless internet services by carrier Sprint Corp (NYSE:S). This is in a bid to help narrow the so-called ‘homework gap’ in the city.

Story continues below

“Access to high-speed Internet service and mobile devices helps our high school students to explore and learn, and to complete their schoolwork. Sprint and the Sprint Foundation are helping to close the digital divide…” said the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel.

Chicago Public Schools

The initiative is part of the carrier’s 1Million Project where students in Chicago’s public schools will each get a free tablet, smartphone, hotspot device and three gigabytes of data at 3G speeds every month for a period of four years as long as they stay in school. Once the usage goes above three gigabytes in one month the students will get unlimited data at 2G speeds.

According to the chief executive officer of Chicago Public Schools, Forrest Claypool, the digital tools availed to the students will act as preparatory aids for their success. And with these tools the students will be able to get personalized learning and once they leave school they will be able to continue exploration and growth.

Sprint intends to distribute devices numbering 8,419 in schools in Chicago. In the high school district of DuPage, 300 students will receive these devices while in the high school district of Township, 219 students will benefit. At the Youth Connection Charter School, about 300 students will benefit.

Nationwide rollout

These three schools will be joining more than 1,300 schools spread in 118 school districts in 30 states in the nationwide rollout of the initiative which will begin this fall. A combined total of 180,000 students are expected to benefit initially. And in the course of the next half a decade, one million students in high school will become beneficiaries of the program.

Currently around five million families in the United States who have children of school-going age lack access to broadband despite the fact that 70% of teachers in the country assign homework which requires access to the internet.

On Thursday shares of Sprint Corp rose by 1.57% to close the day at $8.42.