WILLEMSTAD - Increasingly, private individuals and the business community are stepping in to make the Internet available in schools. The government is failing by doing half the job.
According to the foundation Fundashon Kòrsou Habrí, little is done in schools in Curaçao to develop or improve digital skills, often the infrastructure is not available.
For example, the Goslinga VSBO, a public VSBO school in Otrobanda, has had a network with both copper cables and fiber optics for several years. This network was installed during a major renovation of the school in 2015. There has also been an Internet connection from FLOW since 2010.
But during the construction of the network, no active equipment was installed. This means that there are cables, but there are no WiFi routers and switches. As a result, despite a large investment in the network, there is no internet available in the classrooms at the school.
Because the government did not make funds available to install the necessary equipment, the business community jumped in at the request of the Fundashon. Thanks to Green Tree Curaçao fiber optic company Wizard IT, Wi-Fi supplier Sincere ICT and Suares & Co, Internet could still be realized in every classroom this month.
Other schools
The same concept has already been implemented by Ace Suares (in collaboration with others) at the Prins Bernhard School (2015), the Van Houte School (2017), the Schotborgh School (2019) and the Princess Margriet School (2020).
In half of these projects, the government failed to purchase the necessary equipment itself, while at the beginning of 2021 the previous Minister of Education, Steven Croes, paid a large amount for a data center and Internet connections for the schools.
A school has little use for Internet without the necessary WiFi equipment. Private institutions, companies and individuals jump into that gap to make their time, energy and money available to provide these public schools with Internet in the classroom. Unfortunately, the Goslinga VSBO is not the only public school that does not have WiFi in the classroom.