CONNECT A SCHOOL, CONNECT A COMMUNITY

CHILE CASE STUDY Enlaces In Chile, the Center for Education and Technology within the Ministry of Education administers Enlaces,127 the country’s initiative to improve education in subsidized state schools using ICTs.128 Enlaces provides access to the Internet to approximately 75 per cent of students in schools that are enrolled in the project, 67 per cent of which have a broadband connection.129 From its inception in 1992, the programme has focused on government primary and secondary schools in urban areas.  In 2000, it introduced the Enlaces Rural programme, which addressed the task of connecting schools in rural and less accessible areas.  In 2002, a new program called Red Enlaces Abierta a la Comunidad was implemented to provide communities with access to the Internet through 2,000 educational facilities and computer labs.130 Enlaces has used a variety of financing sources and mechanisms to achieve its connectivity goals for Chile.  In 1998, for example, the Ministry of Education reached an agreement for the Chilean telecommunication operator Compania de Telecomunicaciones de Chile (CTC) to provide free, unlimited Internet service to all schools in the country for a period of 10 years. Since 2004, as part of its efforts to promote broadband connectivity, Enlaces has reached agreements with multiple operators provide preferential fees to educational facilities.  Enlaces also established a fund through which schools could apply for a subsidy equal to 50-100 per cent of the broadband connection fee.131   127Centro de Educacion y Tecnologia (Enlaces), Ministerio de Educacion, available at:http://www.enlaces.cl/index.php?t=44&i=2&cc=1273&tm=2  128The educational system in Chile is decentralized, with municipal governments and private schools responsible for most administrative and financing aspects. Private institutions account for 43 per cent of primary and secondary students. Some municipal schools are subsidized by the federal government. The Enlaces program only applies to subsidized municipal schools. See http://www.chile-usa.org/education.html 129Enlaces en Cifras, available at: http://www.enlaces.cl/index.php?t=44&i=2&cc=230&tm=2 130Enlaces, Nuestra Historia, available at: http://www.enlaces.cl/index.php?t=44&i=2&cc=170&tm=2 131Enlaces: 15 Años Integrando Tecnologia a la Educacion Chilena, pg. 64, available at:http://www.enlaces.cl/tp_enlaces/portales/tpee371c23bs52/uploadImg/File/libro_enlaces.pdf