Fourth Pillar of Infovek – Co-operation with the Region

The Infrovek project is gradually more and more exceeding the borders of the education sector. The schools are becoming the epicentres of the information development of the local communities in the following order: teachers – children – parents – the entire local community. Something similar already took place in the history of Slovakia in the so-called Štúr Era. Ľudovít Štúr and the group around him were not only the teachers of the Slovak language and the awakeners of the national consciousness but they were also the pioneers, spreading the modernisation in, at that point, prevailingly agricultural Slovakia. They were spreading the second civilisation wave in the surrounding, still governed in a principal way by the first civilisation wave. Taking into account the change of the industrial Slovakia into an information country, we are close to the thought that the teachers at schools, involved with the Infovek project, are becoming so to say the new Štúr group, spreading the “digital revolution“ in our society, which raises the awareness and consciousness of the society as for the development of the information society. This gave the birth to the term “Digital Štúr Group,“ eventually “Digital Štúr Work“.

By the end of 2001 we support through the Infovek project 500 schools, whereby at each of these schools there is a good quality Internet-multimedia classroom. This in fact represents 500 Internet centres, located nation-wide in the territory of the Slovak Republic. At the same time we expect the training of a couple of thousands of teachers in the area of the ICT utilisation by the end of the year.

This network of the Internet classrooms, so far without competition, hides in itself a huge potential both by its range and the personnel, and creates unique precondition for a much wider Internet utilisation in the society. The aim of the project “Digital Štúr Group“ is that the Internet classrooms at schools would open their doors to the local community, hence, provide the local community with the Internet access in the time when the classrooms are not utilised in the pedagogic work. However, the project “Digital Štúr Group“ plans to resolve this problem of “trans-school“ utilisation of the Internet-multimedia Infovek classrooms systematically, legislatively, and methodically.

Opening of the doors of the Internet-multimedia classrooms to the local community will be beneficiary in many ways.

1. First of all, the hardware infrastructure, created at schools in the framework of the Infovek project, will be utilised more effectively. This of course will bring a more effective utilisation of significant finances, invested in the Infovek project. The situation is similar to that of an entrepreneur, utilising an expensive machine he purchased in three shifts.
2. The local community will be provided with the Internet access, often in such locations of Slovakia, in which the Internet access is not available by far and large and the situation will not change very quickly.
3. Those interested in the program that come from the local communities would have significantly easier access to the fulfilment of the Act on the Free Access to Information. The government institutions publish a huge amount of information on the Internet already now and this form, as first reactions of the state institutions to this act indicate, will be even more characteristic. The reason is simple – this form is, from the point of view of institutions, the simplest and least expensive, so it is the most effective one. To enable the Internet access to as many Slovaks as possible even in the out-of-the-way localities, not only in the centres, means the significant strengthening of the principles of democracy and civic society despite the fact that finally it will significantly save money of the state institutions, which will be able to publish the information, which are the citizens interested in, on the Internet and so to answer many questions of the citizens in advance, to save costs, connected with the administrative work, relating to the proceeding of the citizens' requests, etc. Through the concept of the “Digital Štúr Group,“ the Infovek project is becoming not only a matter of the Ministry of Education but also a matter of all ministries as well as of the state institutions having new obligations due to the Act on the Free Access to Information.
4. The Internet-multimedia classrooms at schools may become the flexible re-qualification centres for the unemployed in the near future. The above-mentioned high density of the Internet-multimedia classrooms as well as their placement throughout entire Slovakia means that the location where the re-qualification takes place will be located closer to the place of residence of the unemployed person. We can imagine that, with the contribution of PHARE, the respective institutions can create the whole system of the re-qualification of the unemployed with the utilisation of the Internet-multimedia classrooms. The distance type of education of adults via Internet (on-line education) can well be suitable for this purpose as well.
5. As for the organisation of the Internet classroom access to the local community the school, respectively the assigned teacher, for example the teacher-guarantor, engaged in the Infovek project on behalf of the school, will be responsible. Apart from the Internet access, enabling the citizen to surf the Internet, the citizen would be able, in case he would be interested, to open his own mailbox to participate in the Internet chat groups, discussions, and exchange of opinion but he could also gain the access to various databases, such as for example the free job market, etc. Many government and non-government organisations would undoubtedly very quickly place a number of useful and practical information for the citizens on the Internet as a response to the fact that Internet would become accessible in a massive way. The very rough estimation based upon the number of Internet centres being 500 on the territory of Slovakia in 2002 is that thousands of citizens could get the possibility of relatively cheap and often the only existing Internet access. According to the dynamics of the Infovek project growth, the number of these places should later on increase up to 3,300.
6. The access to the Internet classrooms at school is also a another possibility for the schools to acquire additional finances for the maintenance and operation of these classrooms. It would not be possible to fully finance the not very cheap fees of the Internet providers from the state budget. In 2001, the question of financing of the Internet services, provided by the school, involved in the Infovek project, has also been resolved from the legislation point of view.
7. The importance of the secondary schools and elementary schools for the entire society would change in a principal way through the access of the citizens of the local community to the Internet classrooms too. The schools and the education sector in Slovakia once again became the carrier of the up-to-date culture and the preparation of citizens for the practical life. The significance and the position of the teacher in the society (“Digital Štúr Group“) will increase, the schools will gain the natural respect among the citizens again. Apart from its main task, the preparation of the young generation for the future, the schools will assist and co-operate in the lifelong “re-qualification” of the citizens for life and finding a place in the information society of uniting Europe.
8. Last, however, by far not least important will be the raise of the status of a teacher, which currently witnesses a record downfall. The position of a teacher will become more prestigious as he becomes the spreading agent of the digital literacy in his own local community. Not only will his self-consciousness, the feeling of importance rise, he will also realise his key position in the change of the society toward a permanent education society, the so-called knowledge society.