2.3 National initiatives

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 Several countries have adopted national strategies, policies and targets for school connectivity, often reflecting international and regional initiatives.  These national initiatives are important in building a national consensus to establish Internet connectivity. 

One of the priorities of Chile’s Digital Strategy for 2007-2012, for example, is to increase the intensity and depth of students' ICT usage.  The goal is not only to establish school connectivity, but to ensure that the infrastructure is robust and high-quality enough to support the educational process.  To achieve these goals, Chile’s Digital Strategy aims to double the number of broadband connections, covering the entire country during the 2007-2012 period.32  According to the Digital Development Indicators Report published in early 2009, there were 6,835 school facilities connected to the Internet at the end of 2008, and there were 24 students per computer.33

In Peru, the General Policy Guidelines to Promote the Wide-Ranging Access to the Internet in Peru was issued by presidential decree in 2001.  The decree created a multi-sector commission to formulate a national action plan and also set forth general policies to be integrated into individual sectors' action plans.  With regard school connectivity, the guidelines directed the Ministry of Education to submit annual plans for providing Internet access in schools.34 

Colombia has established Compartel, a program financed through the Fund for Information Technologies and Communication.  Compartel has invested USD 365.7 million to provide broadband Internet connectivity to public institutions and community access centres throughout the country.  To date, these investments have benefitted 20,656 public institutions, of which 13,691 are educational organizations.  This has been complemented by the Computadores para Educar programme, which has also invested USD 103.8 million, benefitting close to 14,400 public schools (32.25 per cent of all public schools) and making more than 200,000 computers available.35 The Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications in Colombia has estimated that almost 4.8 million children and 172,000 teachers can use ICTs in the classroom.

32Estrategia Digital Chile 2007-2012, Capitulo 2: Objetivos y Metas, available at: http://www.estrategiadigital.gob.cl/node/122
33TIC en la Educacion, Indicadores de Desarrollo Digital en Chile, Estrategia Digital del Gobierno de Chile, available at: http://www.estrategiadigital.gob.cl/files/2009-09-03%20-%20Indicadores%20de%20Desarrollo%20Digital.pdf
34Decreto Supremo No. 066-2001-PCM, Lineamientos de Politicas Generales para Promover la Masificacion del Acceso a Internet en el Peru, Anexo – Politicas Generales, available at: http://www.codesi.gob.pe/codesi/docs/nacionales/lineaperu.pdf.
35Speech of the Colombian Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Dra. María del Rosario Guerra to the 2010 ITU Development Conference Regional Preparatory Conference for the Americas, held in Santa Marta, Colombia, from 9 to 11 September, 2009, available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/conferences/rpm/2009/ams/documents/OpeningStatement_Minister-es.html

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