Promoting effective regulation, greater investment and innovative models for school connectivity in underserved communities and for broader digital inclusion
Background
The ITU-FCDO project aims to bridge the digital divide through improving school connectivity in underserved areas and provide technical technical assistance in the five Digital Access Programme (DAP) countries including Indonesia. The United Kingdom's DAP is collaborating with ITU and regional and local partners in Indonesia to catalyze affordable, inclusive, safe and secure digital access for excluded populations with the common goal of supporting the connectivity of those who are still unconnected and contributing to meaningful connectivity of those who have yet to benefit from the digital economy.
This high-level roundtable brings to a culmination two preceding workshops, namely ‘strengthening the supply side of school connectivity, and sustainable school financing models for connectivity.’ Almost 150 diverse stakeholders in the ICT and Education sector attended the workshop and deliberated the interim findings of the ITU-FCDO project.
The education sector in Indonesia continues to recover from the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic induced disruption. In this context, adequate, meaningful, inclusive, and sustained Internet connectivity benefits students, teachers and policy makers in regaining learning outcomes and quality of education.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) attaches high importance to the digitalisation of the education sector including in relation to the Merdeka Belajar Programmes. Connectivity is one of the pillars that is accelerated along with building the partnership between national and local governments, increasing digital literacy and skills, and other supportive interventions. Various challenges, however, leave several schools, especially in disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost (3T) areas unconnected.
On a related front, the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kominfo) accelerates the provision of infrastructure and provides supporting regulations. BAKTI cooperates with cellular operators and local governments to deploy 4G BTS in 12,548 yet-to-be connected villages, most of which are in the 3T area. The Multifunction Satellite (SATRIA) is expected to cover all of the remaining spots, including 93,000 schools.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is an intergovernmental organisation and the specialised agency of the United Nations for information and communication technologies (ICTs). In its effort to further address the remaining major gaps in terms of affordability and access to connectivity, particularly last-mile connectivity in several countries, including Indonesia, ITU and the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), building on findings of previous studies and other accumulated knowledge, have joined forces to push the momentum on digital inclusion and digital sustainability.
Since March 2021, the ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, with the endorsement of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics (MCI), implemented the technical assistance and capacity building activities of the ITU-FCDO project “Promoting Effective Regulation, Greater Investment and Innovative Models for School connectivity in Underserved Communities and for Broader Digital Inclusion.” The work also leverages from Giga-a global joint ITU-UNICEF initiative to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice.
The high-level roundtable is being organised as part of a transition from the current to the subsequent phase of the project.
