Digital Village Schools Network - The Reality
Digital Village is committed to connecting all the schools in the Eden Region to our next generation network.
The social and economic development of the Garden Route region is greatly hampered by poor data and telecommunication infrastructure.
There is a great need for better quality internet services to more people. This is especially so in the case of under-serviced rural communities and organizations.
It is also recognized that there are currently no reason to believe that any meaningful incentives from governmental or other institutions will be forthcoming to change this situation in the foreseeable future.
Key areas of the problem are the following:
- Over 100 schools, identified by the Department of Education, as being high-priority schools with a critical need for internet connectivity. There currently is no immediate solution to the needs of these schools.
- Each school is provided with free broadband internet access, VOIP access to the Department of Education and where required, free video conferencing between schools within the network.
Every school that gets connected will receive the
Digital Village schools network kit. This box gets mounted inside the school building and is locked to prevent unauthorised access and minimize downtime.
Each network kit consists of the networking equipment that allows the school to connect to the wireless network as well as to the voice network.
A phone socket on the side of the box allows for a standard handset to be plugged into the box. The network point on the side of the box gets plugged into the school's own network (if it exists, else into a hub) from where the PC's are connected to the wireless network.
A battery backup within the kit allows the school to stay connected to the wireless network even during electricity blackouts.
The Schools Network project started from a vision that all school children should have equal access to information. To read up on this vision see this link.
