Report No: acs11069. Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of

2.7 Project Beneficiaries

Other that through the Wi-Fi kiosks, the above beneficiary group benefits from the Internet connectivity provided through a different government project commissioned by MoES. Since 2009, MoES has committed to connecting all primary (central and satellite) and secondary schools, as well as student dormitories (almost 1200 locations). Yet, the Ministry has faced difficulties in providing connectivity to some 10 percent of the access points, as it could not provide connectivity to the most remote and isolated schools due to the lack of adequate infrastructure by the fixed ISP selected to provide connectivity under MoES tender. For instance, MoES has estimated that the connectivity in 138 rural schools has been in question for the school year of 2013-2014¹²⁷, out of which 7 could not be connected at all.¹²⁸ At the same time, Wi-Fi Internet kiosks have been installed in 115 out of these 138 schools (Box 2).

Even though the Wi-Fi Kiosk Program was not designed to serve the connectivity needs of the schools (e.g. Wi-Fi Internet Access is usually weak or not available inside the school buildings, thus the teachers have to go outside to connect to the electronic systems of the MoES, etc.), the feedback provided by the school personnel is highly positive: teachers seem to be satisfied with the kiosks, as they provide a much better alternative to nothing. This feedback is confirmed by the survey results showing that the teachers frequently use the kiosks for professional reasons (see Section 2.6).

According to the tender requirements of the MoES project which stipulates provision of the Internet connectivity to the schools, the Ministry does not provide any subsidy for the installation or deployment of the infrastructure (where the latter is not present): broadband services are purchased by MoES on the basis of a pre-established monthly fee and the contract is signed for one year. Every year the minimum technical requirements are gradually increasing while reflecting the market developments and growing user needs (Box 2). In the localities where the selected ISP cannot provide the connectivity at a level determined by MoES tender requirements, the schools remain unconnected.

The connectivity is essential for meeting the educational standards set by the Government: for instance, all of the teachers are obliged to comply with the requirements foreseeing the use of Education Management Information System (EMIS)¹²⁹, e-Gradebook, Electronic External testing, and other web services¹³⁰. The connectivity is no less essential for students who are required to take computer classes from the second grade onwards, with the school load being two hours per week or 72 hours a year¹³¹. Out of 115 schools with uneven Internet access, which benefit from the connectivity provided by the Wi-Fi kiosks, the biggest part will be disconnected in 2014. At the same time, there is no evidence allowing the researchers to conclude that fixed Internet infrastructure will be extended in the upcoming years to the areas where schools with poor connectivity are located¹³² (Section 3.2.). This implies that these schools will likely remain disconnected with no clear prospects for change.