ICT in Schools

It was therefore possible to make good the lag that had accumulated after Portugal had become one of the first countries to provide all schools with RDIS connections in 2001 and after all schools from the 5th to 12th year had been provided with a connection in 1997. In the same year, Portugal became one of the first countries to include schools in the research and higher education computing network by setting up the RCTS - Science Technology and Society Network with the objective of providing an integrated research and education network.

See the geographic location of the schools on Google Earth (site in Portuguese) >>
(if you would like to see the geographic location of all schools of one kind or more, place the cursor in the
“Search school by:” window, do not write anything and press “Enter”. Then select the type(s) of school you want to see)

As foreseen under the Connecting Portugal programme, a income tax deduction to facilitate the purchase of a computer by families with students was approved in the State Budget for 2006. It excepted high earning families (as deemed for income tax purposes) and provided a tax break of 250€ and half the cost of a computer and terminal connection for purchases made over a three year period from 1st December 2005.

A Programme - Internet@EB1 – coordinated by FCCN - Foundation for National Scientific Computation (site in Portuguese) was approved at the start of 2002 for monitoring schools in the 1st cycle of basic education by Higher Education Schools from polytechnic institutes, the aim being to promote and facilitate Internet use for educational purposes in these schools and to promote teacher training in specific educational situations. Among other aspects, more than 160 thousand basic IT skills diplomas were awarded in the scope of this programme and Internet pages were prepared for more than 7,500 schools. This programme gave rise to another in 2005/06 - CBTIC@EB1 – in the scope of the CRIE – Computers, Networks and Internet at School Mission Team (site in Portuguese), now encompassing broader activities in ICT and including activities in the different 1st cycle curricular areas. More than 11,000 activities on building electronic portfolios took place, as did 11,600 on building school web pages and 5,400 collaboration projects. In the 2005/06 academic year alone, the programme involved 18 higher education institutions, 18 virtual resource centres, 6,583 schools (89% of all 1st cycle schools), 17,417 teachers, 967 monitors, 175,111 students, 27,517 visits to schools lasting a total of 137,000 hours, with more than 71,274 basic IT skills diplomas being awarded during this programme, of which more than ¾ were to students in the 4th year of schooling , and also 2,207 to teachers.

Also in 2005/06, CRIE provided ICT teacher training, which involved 573 participants, 228 training bodies, 34 training actions, 18 Moodle collaborative platform ICT Competence Centres and also provided training for 15,109 teachers in 175 projects and spread the use of Moodle collaborative platforms to 2,094 teachers. 1,309 ICT rooms were also equipped with 19,635 computers in 1,159 schools and a call for proposals for the production of educational digital content was held, leading to approval for 256 projects, which are currently in progress.

In 2006, the Ministry of Education’s Schools, Teachers and Laptops initiative bolstered 1,100 schools with 26,000 laptops for roughly 11,600 teachers and for practical activities with approximately 200 thousand students.

Participation in the European Union’s eTwinning programme virtually quadrupled from the beginning of the 2005/06 academic year to the 2006/07 one, with the number of schools registered increasing from 120 to 469 and the number of approved partnerships rising from 29 to 140. Furthermore, the number of schools certified for the European Network of Innovative Schools doubled, rising from 25 to 51.

Also in 2006, Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), together with CRIE (site in Portuguese) and the Critical Software company, ran a pilot project on network and service availability in schools, which involved 12 schools and 4 Competence Centres.

The Education Technological Plan was approved in August 2007, with the following objectives:

• Reach an average of 2 students per computer with an Internet connection (in 2006 there were 9.6 students to a computer);
• Fit all classrooms with video projectors;
• Provide all schools with Internet access of at least 48 Mbps;
• Adopt electronic ID cards for all citizens;
• Promote the mass use of electronic means of communication, providing all students and teachers with email addresses;
• Ensure that 90% of teachers and 50% of students have certification for their ICT competences.

The e-Escola (e-School) Program (site in Portuguese) has also been launched. This provides 10th year students and elementary and secondary school teachers with laptops with broadband connections at a lower cost (an initial outlay of 150 Euros and a monthly sum of 15 Euros). It also extends to adults and young people receiving training under the New Opportunities Programme (site in Portuguese), which aims to qualify 1 million people by 2010.This programme is intended to cover half a million people.

The Government launched the e.escolinhas (little e-schools) programme on 30th July 2008, through which half a million students will receive the new Portuguese Low-Cost Computer Developed for Primary School Students (text in Portuguese).

CRIE – Computers, Networks and Internet at School Mission Team (site in Portuguese) >>