99% of schools in Kyrgyzstan connected to Internet

Bishkek, Dec.12, 2019. /Kabar/. Out of 2 thousand 117 schools in Kyrgyzstan, 2 thousand 106 are connected to the Internet, and in percentage terms, 99% of schools have access to the Internet, Rasul Mamatov, Head of the Information Support Sector of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic said during the press conference at Kabar News Agency.

According to his data, in 2016-2017, I-Space OJSC connected to the Internet 775 schools.

"The Government has allocated KGS 11 million for this. Also in 2018-2019, 660 schools were connected to the Internet via Kyrgyz Telecom OJSC, for which the Government allocated KGS 150 million. In addition, 671 schools were connected to the Internet by various Internet providers with the help of LSG structures. As of today, work is underway to connect these schools to the Internet through Kyrgyz Telecom.

By the end of the year, 300 schools will be serviced by Kyrgyz Telecom OJSC, and the remaining 371 schools -by the end of the next academic year.

There are also 31 schools, located in hard-to-reach areas, where wired Internet is technically impossible to access. Now we are working to find other means to connect them to the Internet," said Mamatov.

According to him, concept and roadmap for digitalization of the education sector was developed in early 2019.

"Now, as part of the digitalization, a number of projects are introduced and also there are projects which will be introduced till 2023. Among them are such projects as providing all schools in the country with the Internet, automating the processes of enrollment in schools, automating the queue to kindergartens, also the implementation of the information system of the education sector, etc.," the specialist added.

Mamatov also noted work is underway to connect the Ministry of Education to the Tunduk electronic interaction system.