All state schools in Portugal with broadband Internet access

The symbolism of the occasion drew members of the Government, such as the Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education, the Minister for Education and the Minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications, to Oriola’s EB1 school on 31st January 2006.

Oriola’s EB1 School has 20 pupils and includes a kindergarten catering for 16 children. It has thus become the yardstick whereby another of the Ligar(Connect)Portugal (one of the strategic vectors of the Technological Plan) programme’s objectives has been achieved.

The decision to provide all Portuguese schools with an Internet connection started to be put in place in 1997 under an initiative of the then Ministry of Science and Technology and the Foundation for National Scientific Computation (FCCN).

Portugal was one of the first European countries to provide all schools with an Internet connection, which was achieved by the end of 2001 using RDIS technology.

Portugal has also been a pioneer in including all schools in the scientific research and higher education network since 1997 through the creation of the RCTS – Science, Technology and Society Network. In this way, schools throughout the country can benefit sooner from the advances that scientific institutions often get access to first, at the same time as stepping up their ties to scientific and higher education institutions.

The new broadband connections are essential for placing Portuguese schools back on the front line in Europe and for enabling efficient use of information and communication technologies in educational work and opening up schools to the community.

UMIC – Knowledge Society Agency is bearing the financial costs of the connections for 1st cycle schools, which is the vast majority of schools that now have a broadband connection, and has taken part in monitoring and coordinating the FCCN project since September 2005.