About Connect a School, Connect a Community
From the connectaschool.org website: “Connecting all primary, secondary and post-secondary schools to ICTs by 2015 was one of the targets set by world leaders at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Connect a School, Connect a Community is a public-private partnership launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to promote broadband Internet connectivity for schools in developing countries around the world. Why focus on schools? Because connected schools can serve as community ICT centres for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, including women and girls. They can also serve as hubs to support indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities. So connected schools will serve not only the youth and children who attend them but also the broader communities in which they are located.
The objective is that children and youth attending these connected schools will have improved access to the latest information and communication technologies (ICTs). These centres will leverage ICTs to improve the economic and social development of their communities by providing ICT-based training on basic life skills (language literacy, numeracy and basic ICT literacy) along with training that develops business and ICT-specialized skills.”
The Toolkit of Best Practices and Policy Advice
Through the Connect a School, Connect a Community initiative, ITU and its partners have created The Toolkit of Best Practices and Policy Advice that identifies and compiles best practices that can be used by policy makers and regulators to connect schools to broadband Internet networks – as well as a repository of Training Materials Applications and Tools that can be used by connected schools and their community ICT centres.
