Glenn Wickman
PRIMARY schools throughout the Valencian Community will be fitted with fast and reliable Wi-Fi from March.
The central government in Madrid has announced the inking of a €7.2 million deal with a company based in Paterna (Valencia) to provide wireless internet connections to more than 1,530 State-run schools in the Valencia region, attended by an estimated 514,000 children.
Sources close to the Valencian government explain that the aim is to update and modernise education methods, with all primary and secondary students eventually being able to connect to the web in class.
In addition to the €7.2 million to be invested by the national executive, the Generalitat will contribute an extra €2.4 million to increase bandwidth and enable wireless connection for around 60 pupils at the same time in each school.
The overhaul is part of a nationwide drive by the Spanish executive, entitled ‘Connected Schools’ and already under way in Murcia and Galicia.
It will mostly benefit centres in rural areas, where existing infrastructure is insufficient to guarantee stable internet connections.
An estimated four million students at more than 12,780 public schools throughout Spain are set to benefit from the improved technology.
