Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2010-11 3.4.3.2 Dissemination of Computer Devices Caribbean region found that regional initiatives, such as the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Education Reform Unit’s (OERU) Model ICT policy for the education system, had been used or were being used to develop national ICT policies in education in six countries in the region.91 Governments around the world are contemplating and implementing pilots or programs to distribute low-cost computer devices (LCCDs) to schools. The term LCCD is a relative one, given the income and develop-ment differences around the world. Nevertheless, LCCDs are generally associated with the idea, devel-oped School connectivity initiatives and strategies vary between countries and even within countries.92 The re-cent by then-MIT Lab researcher Nicholas Negroponte, of an inexpensive laptop for every child in the world. toolkit launched by the ITU - Connect a School, Connect a Community - provides a wealth of examples of school connectivity projects and experiences around the world, including: 93 • Establish special programs to implement connectiv-ity To reduce costs, national strategies for LCCDs in schools have taken two main approaches: (i) computer labs, and (ii) one-to-one computing. (See Table 1 for the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.) Tra-ditionally, for specific schools (e.g., Chile’s The Enlaces many governments have promoted “com-puter (Links) program, created in 1992 and administered by the Center for Education and Technology within the Ministry of Education in Chile94); labs” in schools as a means to extending ICTs in education and also to reduce expenses. Labs are shared locations or classrooms within schools where a limited number of computers are available for use by multiple students. Indonesia, for example, launched the “One School One Lab” program in 2003, aimed at expanding the availability of computer labs in its educational insti-tutions. • Involve top-down and bottom-up methods (e.g., Namibia’s SchoolNet project); • Bring together development partners and new technologies (e.g., the Macedonia Connects project, established in 2004 as a partnership between the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES), the United States Agency for International Develop-ment A recent infoDev study on ICTs and education in India and South Asia found that most government initi-atives involve providing computer labs to schools, par-ticularly secondary and higher secondary.95 (USAID) and a local ISP called on.net.); and/or • Subsidize Internet access tariffs for schools (e.g., the United State’s Universal Service Fund Schools and Libraries Program, known as E-Rate). Box 3.7: Portugal’s e-escola (e-school) and e-escolinha program96 Portugal has launched two successful LCCD dissemination projects – the e-escola (e-school) program and the e-escolinha program. • The e-school program, which was initiated in June 2007, distributes laptops with broadband Internet access to teachers and secondary school students. By September 2010, the program had distributed over 450,000 laptops to students throughout the country. The laptops are sold by telecommunications providers at EUR 150, with a EUR 5 discount over the basic monthly fee for the 3, 5 and 7.2 Mbps broadband connections. Reduced fees are available to lower-income students, who get the laptops free of charge and obtain broadband connectivity at 3 Mbps for be-tween EUR 5-15 per month. E-school is subsidized from the fees mobile operators paid for UMTS (3G) licenses. • In July 2008, the Portuguese government in partnership with Intel, also launched the e-escolinha project to produce a Portuguese version of the Intel Classmate (the “Magalhães”). The project calls for distributing this computer to 500,000 primary school students; by September 2010 over 410,000 computers were distributed. Parents pay a fee for the computer, based on their economic situation (ranging from EUR 20 to EUR 50) with no fee imposed on low-income households. Portuguese mobile operators offer both pre-paid and post-paid mobile broadband Internet plans with EUR 5 per month discount as well as wireline broadband connectivity for the Magalhães at discounted prices. Sources: See Escalões da Acção Social Escolar (ASE) at http://eescola.pt/e-escola/oquee.aspx. 102 Chapter 3