MIAMI – Thousands of cell phones will be given free to Miami-Dade students in an effort to help with their studies.
More than 250 students at William H. Turner Technical Arts High School in Miami received phones on Thursday as part of Sprint's "1Million Project."
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In all, Sprint will distribute 14,000 free phones to Miami-Dade students to use for up to four years while they attend high school.
Miami-Dade superintendent Alberto Carvalho was on hand to kick off the Sprint initiative in South Florida.
Besides the phones, students will also receive free hotspot capability and unlimited calls and texts, along with 3 GB of LTE data per month.
The "1Million Project" was created to help students from over 5 million families with school-aged children that cannot afford internet access.
Huge smiles from grateful @mdcps students who will now be connected to digital world with cell phone from @sprint @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/DYf8ngtAZc
— Erica Rakow (@EricaRakow) October 26, 2017
Sprint says 70 percent of teachers in the U.S. now assign internet-based homework where connectivity is a necessity.
The program hopes to distribute 1 million phones to students by the Fall of 2021.
Middle schooler explains how Internet hot spot provided by @sprint has made world of difference for him and his education @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/Frj1gmsJ2L
— Erica Rakow (@EricaRakow) October 26, 2017