The Education Ministry is set to connect all Iranian urban and rural schools to the National Information Network within a year with 150 billion rials ($577,000) earmarked for the project in the 2021-22 budget bill.
According to the ministry, the government has set a deadline of March 2022 to fully implement the project, but if the deadline falls short of funds, it should be financed through other resources, Peivast.com reported.
The National Information Network is a local network described by Iranian authorities as an alternative, independent network with content compatible with Islamic values to facilitate Iranian users’ access to indigenous content and curb educational disparity.
The project for connecting all schools to the internet through NIN was launched in 2012 and so far, more than 1 trillion rials ($3.84 million) have been invested in it.
The current year’s budget for the project amounted to 100 billion rials ($384,600), although the next year’s defined resources have increased by 50%. This might be the last time the government allocates a part of the budget resources to the project.
A couple of months ago, Information and Communications Technologies Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi told reporters that with the connection of 44,000 schools in less-developed rural areas to the educational network, the number of schools with internet access surpassed 86,000.
“This prepares a strong infrastructure for virtual education. The plan’s implementation was to finish by the end of last Iranian year [March 2020], but obstacles to supplying equipment put off the work till the present,” he said.
Jahromi noted that ICT Ministry is also designing a project to provide high-speed internet access for all universities by the current yearend (March 2021).
According to the minister, there are around 1,000 universities throughout the country, which will be connected to NIN via fiber optic.
E-Learning App
To make the best of its available choices, the Education Ministry will also facilitate online learning by streamlining its educational application “Shad” and fixing its bugs in collaboration with the ICT sector.
Soon after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the app Shad was proposed by the ministry as a platform to connect teachers and students in a safe environment.
Promoting the e-learning platform, President Hassan Rouhani had also called on the Plan and Budget Organization to support free internet access for all students and teacher.
He stressed that no student should be left out of the education system, adding that state TV will also use its resources to grant learners access to educational content.
Smart Schools
The project for connecting schools to NIN has gone through a great deal of ups and downs, and while a large amount of money has been spent, its progress was unnoticeable until last year.
In the summer of 2019, the ICT and education ministries launched an initiative to upgrade schools into smart educational centers, seemingly putting an end to the several-year saga.
The agreement between the two ministries includes connecting all schools to NIN and equipping them with basic modern tools needed by students and teachers.
According to Jahromi, only 23,000 schools in Iran are considered smart schools whereby advanced equipment and technology are used to take the educational process forward.
Ideally, a fully smart school is supposed to have smartboards, high-speed internet connectivity, laptops for all students and video projectors.
Smart schools are expected to conduct all services, including the process of enrolling students, teaching and conducting tests, on a digital platform.
Besides the gradual conversion of conventional schools to smart centers since last academic year, officials began to evaluate and rank smart schools based on the access of students and teachers to information and communication technologies.
With the implementation of the new evaluation plan, smart schools will be thoroughly assessed and ranked, based on the amount of digital content offered to students.
This will help parents select the right school for their children and prevent schools from overstating their technological capabilities and overcharging parents.
Database Formation
The task of equipping schools with ICTs and network connectivity commenced last year, along with a project for digitalizing the documents of all students.
Since last autumn, schools were ordered to store the documents of all first graders in electronic systems to expedite the processing of applications, increase transparency and curb paper use.
According to Mehdi Sharafi, the head of Education Ministry’s ICT Office, the move is in line with upgrading schools to smart education centers and making students' information readily available to both teachers and parents.
"Currently, each student has an individual file in school, in which their personal information, school report sheets, classroom activities and any other report related to their educational performance are stored," he said.
“At the end of each academic year, the paper files are archived in schools, occupying a large space and adding to injudicious paper use. If these documents are replaced with electronic files, they will become more accessible to teachers who can get a perspective of the students' strong and weak points at a glance.”
Sharafi noted that digitization eliminates the need for parents to visit schools, especially since the coronavirus is prevailing nationwide, as they can enquire about their kids' progress or other issues electronically.
