Trisha Cunningham, director of Global Corporate Citizenship for TI, is shown with students from schools that will benefit from TI's donation of multimedia classrooms and libraries in Nanbu County.

TI has announced that it will donate multimedia classrooms to 30 primary and middle schools in one of the poorest counties in China. The company will also donate libraries stocked with hundreds of books to 20 schools in the area.

The schools are in Nanbu County, Sichuan province. The manufacturing facilities that TI recently acquired in China are in Chengdu, which is also in Sichuan province.

"TI and its employees around the world are committed to making a positive impact in the communities where they live and work," said Trisha Cunningham, director of Global Corporate Citizenship for TI. "The education investment in Nanbu County is just the first step TI and our new Chengdu employees are taking to strengthen their community."

TI has previously donated 10 libraries to schools in China last year, Cunningham said.

Nanbu is a mountainous county in northern Sichuan province with a population of 1.3 million. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has been focusing on helping lift the county out of poverty since 1995.

DLP technology on display
TI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during a ceremony recently at the ShengShuiZhen Primary School in Nanbu. Officials from the MIIT, local government leaders, principals of the 33 schools receiving donations, teachers and students attended the ceremony.

Bing Xie, president of TI Operations in China, and Cunningham, along with five employees from TI's Chengdu site, also attended. Bing signed the MOU with the county education bureau on behalf of TI.

Bing Xie, president of TI Operations in China (right) is shown during the Memorandum of Understanding-signing ceremony with Luo Wei, the local education chief for Nanbu County, China.

Each "TI Multimedia Classroom" will be equipped with a DLP® projector, a desktop computer and a projection screen. The local education bureau will train teachers how to use the equipment, which TI suppliers will install and maintain.

Bringing electronics to classroom
The additional donation of "TI Hope School Libraries" will contain more than 1,000 books provided by the China Youth Development Foundation.

When the equipment and books are in place, thousands of students who have never had any electronic devices in their classrooms will benefit from TI's contributions, Cunningham said.

The event, which was witnessed by central and local government officials, was well received by the local community, and the news media. Business and trade media across China carried positive reports about TI's initiative after the event.