CONNECT A SCHOOL, CONNECT A COMMUNITY

In addition to addressing broader educational and socioeconomic goals, the expansion of broadband connectivity to schools provides an important way to address the unique needs of special populations such as women and girls, persons with disabilities, indigenous groups, special needs and rural or underserved groups. 

By extending broadband connectivity to schools, policymakers create centralized resources for providing resources tailored to the needs of these populations, whether they are sub-groups within larger schools or educational institutions dedicated to the needs of target populations.

For example, from 2001 to 2004, the Swedish telecommunications regulator, the PTS, was instructed to conduct pilot projects regarding access to bandwidth-intensive resources by persons with disabilities.¹⁰⁹  One of the projects focused on the distribution of “talking books” to higher-education students with visual or reading impairments.  Specifically, the project involved enabling downloads of talking books from a central producer directly to university libraries – which then made the books available to students – as a replacement for postal delivery of such resources.

While the Swedish example was narrowly focused, it shows the role that educational institutions can play in expanding educational opportunities for certain segments of the population.  Similar models – using schools as distribution or training points for access to targeted resources – could be employed to reach various sub-groups within a school population.

In addition, educational institutions that primarily serve particular sub-groups, such as women or girls, or indigenous populations, could benefit from collaboration and curriculum-sharing with other, similar institutions.  While such institutions may make up a small fraction of the schools in a given region, or even country, broadband connectivity allows educators and students at similar schools to share or jointly develop curricula or projects focused on the particular needs of their populations.  Policymakers and educators are better able to justify the dedication of resources to curricula and institutions when the efforts will benefit larger populations, and broadband connectivity can transform multiple smaller populations into larger groups with similar needs. 

Broadening Teaching Possibilities

Further, in rural and remote regions, connecting schools to broadband enables a new generation of distance learning that goes far beyond traditional correspondence courses or broadcasting-based services.  Broadband enables services including videoconferencing, real-time distribution of classroom materials, and collaboration with students in the classroom and other distance learners.

An evaluation of an ICT for education project in Russia, carried out at the end of the 2007/08 school year, found that enrollment in distance learning courses increased by 75 per cent.  The enrollment in rural areas jumped from 2.4 per cent to more than 30 per cent.  The big increase was due to Internet connectivity, which allowed students to take an online training course to prepare for the Unified State Examination. ¹¹⁰

The common thread linking such initiatives is the broadband connection in the educational institution.  It enables fast and cost-effective transmission of resources targeted at key populations, as well as sharing of content and curriculum with other institutions remotely located students.