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Niki and the wandering school is an innovating didactic project supported by Fondazione Telecom Italia. The Education Minister Gelmini assists to Niki Secondary Modern school final exam.

"It was a moving experience”, declared the Minister – such a boy is extremely engaged and exhibits huge capacities. It is a young person willing to struggle, notwithstanding the problems he had in his life. The Minister will always support Niki".

These are the words pronounced by the Minister Gelmini on June 21st, in Salerno, when she assisted to the Niki Francisco exam. Niki, aged 14, is suffering from a rare asthmatic pathology not allowing him to live on the continent. That is why since he was 7 he has been navigating on the Mediterranean see with his parents on Walkirye, a self-sufficient 26 meter long boat, built by his parents in his house garden in Bellinzago Novarese.

Fondazione Telecom Italia (who inherited the project from Telecom Italia) has been supporting Niki and his family since the beginning to provide Niki regular studies, thus proving, through such a project and other initiatives, how communication and multi-media technologies are important for study and school inclusion.

Thanks to a video-conference system, the Multimedia Interactive Blackboard and other similar tools, Niki managed to remotely attend the State Secondary Modern School "Biagio Siciliano" in Capaci,  interacting in real time with students and teachers, with very good results in terms of learning and integration with his school mates.

During the exam, a teacher was present on the Walkirye and the president of the exam commission, while Niki was answering to all the questions asked by his professors in Capaci. Walkirye was at the Salerno Dock. The school boat of the Guardia di Finanza “Giorgio Cini” was the connection between the boat and the continent.

Because of his unique experience, Niki was appointed “Junior Ambassador of UNICEF Italia for the girl and boy learning rights in the Mediterranean sea.”