Connect a School,
Connect a Community Toolkit
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Policies and Regulations
to Promote School Connectivity
Executive Summary
CONNECT A SCHOOL, CONNECT
A COMMUNITY TOOLKIT
Module on Policies and
Regulation to Promote
School Connectivity
Executive Summary
May 2010
The full Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School
Connectivity available at www.connectaschool.org, was prepared by a
team, led by the Special Initiatives Division of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau. The team included Sofie Maddens and
Mariana Vega and web-editor John Alden (experts). The views
expressed in the module, however, are those of the experts and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of ITU or its members.
Table of Contents
Page
1
Introduction: The Importance of Connecting Schools .................................
1
Short-Term, Medium-Term and Long-Term Benefits ...........................
2
2
Initiatives for Connecting Schools..............................................................
4
3
Key Elements of School Connectivity Plans................................................
7
Stakeholders in School Connectivity Plans ...........................................
7
Setting Priorities for Connectivity .........................................................
7
Technology Choices ..............................................................................
9
The Role of ICT Sector Regulations......................................................
10
Funding ..................................................................................................
11
4
Leveraging School Internet Connectivity....................................................
12
5
Cross-Cutting Issues.................................................................................
13
6
Conclusion...............................................................................................
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
CONNECT A SCHOOL, CONNECT
A COMMUNITY TOOLKIT
Module 1:
Policies and Regulation
to Promote School Connectivity
Executive Summary
1
INTRODUCTION: THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTING
SCHOOLS
Many countries are realizing the importance of connecting their
educational institutions to the Internet. Connectivity provides many benefits,
including access to an ever-growing volume of educational information,
opportunities for collaboration and the use of online applications. In addition, it
is important for students, as well as teachers, to learn information and
communication technology (ICT) skills to enable them to participate in the
evolving knowledge society.
School connectivity helps enhance educational administration through the
electronic exchange of forms, data and other information. It achieves cost
efficiencies by automating manual tasks and reducing expenses associated with
textbook printing and distribution. The benefits are particularly attractive for
remote schools, where Internet access provides a vehicle for online learning and
access to educational content.
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
Short-Term, Medium-Term and Long-Term Benefits
Policy-makers and educators now understand that broadband connectivity
for schools can have a wide range of short-term, medium-term and long-term
benefits. In the short term, extending broadband connectivity to schools enables
educators to take advantage of new and emerging content and tools that update
and enrich curricula. It gives individual instructors tools to facilitate and expand
collaboration with colleagues both near and far. In cases where broadband
replaces a slower Internet connection, such as dial-up service, students and
educators have improved access to existing resources that may have been too
time-intensive to download over a slow connection, or simply unavailable
without the bandwidth provided by broadband connectivity.
In the medium term, changes to educational curricula spurred by the
introduction of online content and research tools have the potential to improve
student performance. In addition, broadband connectivity has the potential to
reduce the time necessary for new policies, curricula, and research tools to
become available to students. Generally, there is a lag time between
development and delivery of static resources, such as books, videos, or even
multimedia instructional materials. Broadband connectivity can serve as an
equalizer, making current, and even experimental, materials more readily
available to educators in a timely fashion.
There is also evidence that the use of broadband connectivity as an
educational tool for children acts as a motivating force for parents to develop an
increased interest in obtaining broadband service at home.1 Increased demand
has the potential to attract interest from governments and other organizations
that can fund broadband deployment, as well as commercial entities that are
hesitant to offer services without a reasonable business case built on sustainable
demand levels.
1
2
Comments by multiple panelists in U.S. FCC workshop, “Programmatic Efforts to Increase
Broadband Adoption and Usage – What Works and What Doesn't?” 19 August 2009.
Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
In the longer term, broadband connectivity in educational settings can be
leveraged to ensure that students grow up with some level of familiarity with not
only the basic operation of devices such as PCs, but with the online resources
that are in use across the world. By enacting policies intended to teach future
generations of students how to access and contribute to online resources,
policymakers can lay a foundation for the development of adults who are able to
use online resources to participate in national and global economies, political
development and social networks.
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
2
INITIATIVES FOR CONNECTING SCHOOLS
For these reasons, there are now multiple initiatives to spur school
connectivity at the international, regional and national levels. International
initiatives include elements of:
•
The Millennium Development Goals – Although they do not deal directly
with the establishment of school connectivity, the MGDs’ focus on
providing education sets the stage for countries to direct and concentrate
efforts to develop policies that will improve the accessibility of education.
•
World Summit on the Information Society – The WSIS 2003 Plan of
Action proposed possible national targets, including one to “connect
universities, colleges, secondary schools and primary schools with ICTs.”2
•
World Education Forum – Held in April 2000 in Dakar, Senegal, the
Forum adopted a Framework for Action that envisions ICT connectivity as
a key means to achieve educational goals.
In addition to this global emphasis, there are many regional initiatives that
seek to tap into the resources and expertise of multiple nations and
organizations. Examples of these include:
•
Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries – The Rio de Janeiro
Commitment, signed in 2005, determined that ICTs should be used to
achieve the MDG goals in that region.
•
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC) – ECLAC supports the Strategy for the Information
Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (“eLAC”). A long-term
vision, aligned with the MDGs and the goals of WSIS, eLAC provides
short-term action plans that contain qualitative and quantitative goals (See
Figure 2-1).
•
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) – The group’s “eSchools Initiative” was announced in 2003 at the Africa Summit of the
World Economic Forum. The goal is to ensure that primary and secondary
students in Africa have the skills to participate effectively in the global
information society.
2
4
Plan of Action for World Summit on the Information Society, December 2003, available at:
http://www.itu.int/wsis/docs/geneva/official/poa.html
Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
•
European Union – The Europe Action Plan calls on Member States to
“ensure that all schools in the Union have access to the Internet and
multimedia resources by the end of 2001.”3 The follow-up eEurope 2005
Action Plan focused on exploiting broadband technologies to deliver
online services in both the public and private sector and promoting highspeed connectivity.4 With the i2010 initiative, the European Commission
is promoting "eAccessibility" to ensure that the elderly and people with
disabilities can access ICTs on an equal basis.
Figure 1: Link between eLAC and international initiatives
Source: ECLAC.
Finally, national governments are stepping forward to create school
connectivity programs and projects.
3
4
http://www.ictdevlibrary.org/downloads/02_ec_e-europe_action_plan_obj_2.pdf
Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic
and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - eEurope 2005: An information
society for all - An Action Plan to be presented in view of the Sevilla European Council, 21/22
June 2002, (COM 2002 (263) Final), available at: http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2002:0263:FIN:EN:PDF
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
•
•
•
5
6
6
Chile’s Digital Strategy establishes that the country should double its
broadband connections to cover the entire country during the 2007-2012
period.5 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.6
In Peru, the General Policy Guidelines to Promote the Wide-Ranging
Access to the Internet in Peru, issued by presidential decree in 2001,
created a multi-sector commission to formulate a national action plan and
set forth general policies to be integrated into individual sector action
plans.
In Colombia, Compartel, a program financed from resources of the Fund
for Information Technologies and Communication, has invested USD
365.7 million, thus providing broadband Internet connectivity to public
institutions and centers of community access throughout the country. To
date, these investments have benefited 20,656 public institutions, of which
13,691 are official educational sites.
Estrategia Digital Chile 2007-2012, Capitulo 2: Objetivos y Metas, available at:
http://www.estrategiadigital.gob.cl/node/122
TIC 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
Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
3
KEY ELEMENTS OF SCHOOL CONNECTIVITY PLANS
It is important to have concrete strategies to connect schools to the
Internet, including key elements such as school selection and networking
options. It is also helpful for governments to implement enabling legislation,
regulations and funding mechanisms, and for authorities to monitor and evaluate
ongoing school connectivity projects.
School connectivity plans cannot be defined on a stand-alone basis, and in
order to be effective, they must be consistent with policies to promote overall
ICT connectivity. Within a national framework, school connectivity plans need
to be coordinated with policies, plans, strategies, and programs for universal
service, broadband and Information Society agendas.
A specific “ICT for education” plan ensures that proper focus and detail is
devoted to school connectivity and that implementation targets are feasible and
fundable. A detailed ICT for education strategy is also essential to facilitate
funding from development partners.
Stakeholders in School Connectivity Plans
The ministry of education, along with a number of other government
agencies, has an interest in school connectivity. These stakeholders should be
incorporated into school connectivity plans to ensure coordination and
consensus on strategies. Beyond the governmental actors, the private sector and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can play key roles in advancing school
connectivity. The private sector, particularly service providers and equipment
vendors, are likely to be engaged in the planning, deployment and operation of
projects to expand connectivity, regardless of the project structure or funding
process.
Setting Priorities for Connectivity
Very few developing countries have the financial, technical, personnel or
logistical resources to quickly connect all schools to the Internet, although given
the right conditions, this can be done in less than a year. Assuming that all
schools are to be eventually provided with Internet access through a top-down
process coordinated by the Ministry of Education, then priorities need to be
determined about which schools should be covered first by the connectivity
plan.
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
Figure 2: Stakeholders in School Connectivity
Governments need to decide the education levels (e.g., primary,
secondary, tertiary) the connectivity plan will target. The number of schools and
students in most countries resemble a pyramid structure with tertiary having the
least, followed by secondary and then primary. Most countries have initially
focused on secondary schools. One reason is that tertiary institutions are often
administered differently and have their own plans and priorities. Another is that
many universities already have Internet connectivity.
Countries also need to decide the type and locations of schools to be
connected. In terms of public or private schools, the former are almost always a
priority given that planning and funding is from the Ministry of Education
whose main focus is on the public school system. It is also assumed that private
schools have greater resources to fund their own connectivity. While it may be
socially desirable to connect rural or remote schools, in some countries,
providing access to large urban schools will have an initially greater benefit by
covering more students at a lower cost.
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
Implementing a national school connectivity plan is often a long-term
process. It is essential for a school connectivity plan to have a timeframe,
particularly given the multiple, inter-related variables that need to be taken into
consideration (i.e., sequencing of schools to be connected, status of the Internet
network, appropriate policy/regulatory framework, funding, etc.). A realistic
timetable helps to ensure that implementation goals are feasible and that the
project remains on track, particularly if on-going monitoring and
accomplishment milestones are built into the timetable.
Technology Choices
There are various network considerations when connecting schools to the
Internet. One is the selection of broadband technology. While a narrowband
solution such as dial-up does provide Internet connectivity, access is slow, the
service is not “always-on” and costs can be higher than broadband. Appropriate
broadband speeds need to be identified along with the selection of high-speed
technology. Another consideration is whether to provide direct access to the
Internet or to connect schools through an educational network in which
educational institutions are linked to each other within a country or region, and
potentially also connected (via the educational network, rather than a
commercial ISP) to overseas networks.
A number of technologies exist for broadband access. Availability,
appropriateness and costs are the key factors in deciding which method to use
for Internet access. If telephone lines already exist in the school, it may be
possible to use digital subscriber line (DSL) service, which can be offered
without the need for additional investment in infrastructure by the school (other
than a DSL modem). Other broadband options include coaxial cable or fiber
optic connections, although the availability or costs of these solutions may not
be feasible for most developing countries. Broadband wireless technologies such
as WiMAX7 or third-generation (3G) mobile or satellite Internet access where
fixed lines and terrestrial wireless service is unavailable are other possibilities.8
Governments need to allocate resources for on-going school connectivity
operation, maintenance and upgrade to ensure reliability and sustainability.
Although initial setup and operational assistance may be received from
governments, development partners or the private sector, it is critical that
schools have access to trained staff that can troubleshoot problems, perform
routine maintenance and identify necessary upgrades.
7
8
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/comments/6422.pdf
For a detailed account on the use of wireless technologies for connecting schools in Namibia
see: http://www.schoolnet.na/projects/wireless/snetwireless.pdf
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
The Role of ICT Sector Regulations
School connectivity requires access to telecommunications networks and
services. The degree of telecommunications liberalization impacts school
connectivity, because market restrictions result in less competition, higher
prices, poorer quality of service and fewer connectivity options. There may be
regulatory restrictions that inhibit schools’ connectivity options, such as a
requirement to use only licensed operators or an inability to use certain radio
spectrum frequencies. On the other hand, regulatory requirements imposed on
telecommunications operators can benefit school connectivity both indirectly
and directly. There are several regulatory issues that impact school connectivity:
•
Universal service and broadband stimulus packages – Many countries
have established universal service programs in order to increase access to
ICTs, particularly in rural and other under served areas. In some cases
these programs and other programs like broadband stimulus packages have
been targeted at schools.
•
Spectrum – Government policies regarding spectrum allocation and use
can impact school connectivity, particularly since wireless technologies
are the best or only option in many areas. Spectrum policies could include
allocating spectrum bands for use by schools, authorizing unlicensed
spectrum to be used by schools and reducing spectrum fees for broadband
providers that serve schools.
•
License obligations – In most countries, telecommunications operators
are awarded licenses that specify their rights and obligations. These could
include network deployment requirements and milestones to extend
networks to underserved areas as well as specific school connectivity
requirements, e.g., in 3G and broadband wireless licenses.
•
Tariffs and Incentives – One approach that can be used to reduce
connectivity costs is mandating the provision of special tariff arrangements
(i.e., price discounts) for schools and providing incentives for operators to
connect schools or to offer special tariffs for schools such as reduced
Universal Service Fund contributions or tax incentives.
•
Competition policy – Imposing a Universal Service Obligation on one
operator may not work in a competitive market; such obligations may need
to be imposed on all operators to ensure a level field for competition.
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
Funding
There are significant challenges to managing the costs associated with
school connectivity. These costs are often substantial and pose a significant
economic burden on the education community. It is important to determine how
connectivity can be financed for both the initial outlay of monies to obtain
equipment and establish connections, as well as supporting the technology in the
long term.
While connectivity costs can be substantial, there are multiple sources of
funding available. Given the variety of funding options, countries should
develop a comprehensive approach geared towards obtaining financial resources
from different channels to cover initial school connectivity costs as well as the
costs of expanding and sustaining Internet access. Funding sources may include:
•
Government
•
Telecommunications operators
•
Multilateral and bilateral development agencies
•
The private sector
•
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
A critical component for school connectivity projects are procedures for
monitoring and evaluation. An effective plan should include methods to
evaluate the technical results of Internet connectivity, measure progress towards
school connectivity and analyze the impact of broadband access on learning.
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
4
LEVERAGING SCHOOL INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
In addition to serving educational needs, broadband-connected schools and
libraries are well-suited to act as ICT centers for surrounding local populations.
School-based tele-centers can offer services similar to Internet cafés, such as
access to PCs, Internet connectivity and video and audio communications
software. Instead of being purely driven by profit, school-based tele-centers can
be focused on meeting community needs, particularly for rural and underserved
populations.
Another means of leveraging broadband-connected schools is extending
connectivity in a locality once an Internet point at a school has been established.
The specific means of delivering “last mile” connections is less important than
the connection of the school to the Internet backbone. It is also important to
create a regulatory regime that enables or mandates educational institutions to
share their connectivity.
In the case of less-developed countries or regions, wireless technologies
make Internet connectivity within a community more feasible. For example, this
may involve using unlicensed spectrum for municipal/community Wi-Fi mesh
networks or allocating spectrum to deploy BWA that uses the school’s
connection as its backhaul
In addition to addressing broader educational and socioeconomic goals,
the expansion of broadband connectivity to schools provides an important
means by which to address the unique needs of special populations such as
women and girls, persons with disabilities, indigenous, special needs and rural
or underserved groups. By extending broadband connectivity to schools, policymakers create centralized resources for providing services 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.
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5
CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES
In addition to the core issue of connectivity and how to achieve it, several
complementary, or cross-cutting, issues are involved in the overall success
of a school Internet access program:
•
Training for teachers – Teachers need to understand how to locate
appropriate resources online, how to make ICT-enabled content and
activities an integral part of their curricula, and how to use applications
that enable collaboration among students and teachers.
•
Assistive technologies for persons with disabilities – Policymakers need
to consider measures to allow such individuals to take advantage of the
broadband connectivity being offered to their peers.
•
Low-cost computing devices (LCCDs) for schools – Connectivity is
directly linked to students’ access to computers and other terminal devices
– and the knowledge of how to use them.
•
Child online protection and responsible use – Increased access to the
Internet also brings risks, especially for young users. Policies and plans to
connect students to the Internet also need to consider measures to protect
children from malicious actors and inappropriate content, and students
must learn responsible online behavior.
•
Raising awareness and building capacity – Education of target
populations should go beyond instruction in how to operate and interact
with broadband-enabled resources. It should include a more general effort
to raise awareness of the educational and societal benefits of ICTs.
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
6
CONCLUSION
Despite the recognized worldwide importance of Internet access for
educational institutions, many developing countries are finding it extremely
challenging to connect their schools. Although funding is typically cited as the
main reason, there are a range of other bottlenecks, including inexistent or
unrealistic school connectivity plans and a lack of coordination between various
stakeholders.
School connectivity requires substantial resources, but there is evidence
that the many potential funding sources available are not being adequately
utilized. Funding is potentially available from a variety of sources, including
universal service funds, multilateral and bilateral donors, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations as well as the parents of the students themselves.
The design of well-structured school connectivity plans with realistic
timetables can have a big impact on increasing school Internet access
throughout the world. These plans should be created with input from all
stakeholders to achieve success, enhance coordination and ensure that potential
donors are aware of them. The plans should also be tied to monitoring and
evaluation tools so they can be modified and improved with experience.
Although school connectivity cannot be achieved overnight, a plan with
medium-, short- and long-term objectives can provide a road map to the day
when the target will eventually be reached.
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Module on Policies and Regulation to Promote School Connectivity
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16
Connect a School,
Connect a Community Toolkit
M
o
d
u
l
e
1
Policies and Regulations
to Promote School Connectivity
Executive Summary