National average download speed per student in the busiest shift was 0.26 Mbps in 2023; government target is 1 Mbps
O NIC.br (Information and Coordination Center) announced on Friday (May 24, 2024) that only 11% of municipal and state schools in the country have access to the internet at adequate speed.
The survey was carried out using a connection quality meter in 32,379 public institutions with more than 50 students during the busiest period. Here’s the complete (PDF – 165 kB).
The research shows that only 3,640 units had internet with a download speed equal to or greater than 1 Mbps (megabyte per second), established by Enec (National Strategy for Connected Schools), from the federal government.
Paulo Kuester Neto, supervisor of Data Science Projects at NIC.br, stated that information technology has become increasingly relevant in the school environment, which reinforces the need for a network connection that is appropriate to serve everyone the students.
“The importance of having adequate speed in the case of schools is due to the types of applications that schools, students and teachers use in the classroom. For example, if a person watches a video, there is a different demand than when they do simple navigation or access a social network”declared Kuester Neto.
The expert said that, in the case of the parameter of 1 mega per student during the busiest shift, it is taken into account that all students during this period would have the right to do a common activity such as browsing or accessing social networks. In general, enjoy freer browsing.
Kuester Neto highlights that, in recent years, there has been an evolution in the provision of internet with adequate connection in public schools and that the MEC (Ministry of Education) has made efforts towards this. According to him, there is still room for improvement. The measurement of speed in schools, by NIC.br, is encouraged by the MEC.
Kuester said that based on the data and excerpts that the study makes about public, state and municipal schools with more than 50 students, “it can be seen that, for now, only 11% of schools have the speed appropriate to the Enec parameter”.
“Although it should be noted that Enec established the parameter recently, we are at the beginning of this policy. This number has been increasing over time – it is indeed an ambitious and good goal on the part of the federal government”declared the supervisor.
Research says that the average speed of download per student in the school’s longest shift rose from 0.19 Mbps in 2022 to 0.26 Mbps in 2023.
The survey also shows that there are regional differences. The North has lower coverage and connection quality. Among the states with the lowest connection speed in this region are Acre, Amazonas, Amapá, Pará and Roraima.
In the Central-West, schools in the Federal District and those in Mato Grosso do Sul also have low internet quality. On the other hand, the highest speeds are in Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Goiás.
Based on information from the Basic School School Census, NIC.Br shows that of the 137,208 state and municipal schools spread across the country, 89% are connected to the network. Of this total, 62% declare that they have the internet for the teaching and learning process, but only 29% have computers, notebooks or tablets for students to access networks. Those that have some equipment have, on average, one device for every 10 students during the longest school shift.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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