My Connected Schoolbag: An Initiative For Hospitalized Children

It's back to school time for millions of French schoolchildren. But did you know that every year, nearly 2 million children are hospitalized in France? Among them, 11,000 children are hospitalized, which keeps them away from school for several months. It is for them that the association Le Collectif has created the solitary device Mon cartable connecté. Explanations.

A solution to keep the link with the school

For hospitalized children, a hospital stay is a double punishment because it takes them away from their school, their friends and their teachers.

It is to help sick children keep in touch with their class, other students and teachers that the association Le Collectif has created Mon cartable connecté.

This digital schoolbag allows sick children to continue their schooling, from their hospital bed or their home, from the first grade to the last.

How does it work?

In concrete terms, this connected schoolbag is a small Suitcase equipped with a webcam and a tablet.

This equipment allows hospitalized children to follow lessons at a distance and to be filmed if they wish.

Thanks to two cameras installed in the classroom, the student can see the teacher, the board and the other students.

This device, based on the voluntary participation of teachers, is less restrictive for teachers and free for hospitalized students.

An association committed to fighting all forms of discrimination

The association Le Collectif was founded in 2005 by Abdel Aïssou, Raymond Domenech and Marc Lavoine to fight against all forms of discrimination.

With Mon cartable connecté, the association wants to help hospitalized children maintain social ties with their school during their stay in hospital, regardless of its duration.

This digital tool allows the student to keep his place in the classroom. As simple as it may seem, this initiative helps to avoid the isolation of hospitalized children, their exclusion from school life and even a possible repetition of a year.

The association, which runs other integration and training projects, is thus continuing its actions in favour of equal opportunities, while helping young patients to take a first step towards recovery.

A project initiated in 2014

Mon cartable connecté was conceived in 2014 and experimented in the pilot rectorates of Versailles and Nice in 2016, after the signing of an agreement with the Ministry of National Education.

This beautiful initiative was deployed in 5 academies at the end of 2018, then in Martinique and Guadeloupe in 2019.

Since 2016, more than 500 children and families have benefited from this solidarity scheme.

The association's ambition is to provide 10 connected schoolbags for each of the academic regions, a total of 130 schoolbags.

This connected schoolbag has a manufacturing cost of a little less than 2000 €, but it is totally free for the children because it is financed by donations from companies and individuals.

If you wish to support this beautiful initiative for the benefit of hospitalized children, you can make a donation on the association's website (link below).