Wi-Fi Installed in All General Classrooms of Elementary, Middle, and High Schools Nationwide

Ministry of Education to Install Over 209,000 Wireless Routers by First Half of Next Year
"Real-Time Interactive Classes and Content Transmission Difficulties Will Be Resolved"

On March 30, when the government was about to announce its position on the opening of elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide, a classroom at Yeongpung Elementary School in Songpa-gu, Seoul, was empty. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Wireless networks (Wi-Fi) will be established in all general classrooms of elementary, middle, high, and special schools nationwide.

The Ministry of Education announced on the 28th that it will implement preliminary specifications and bid announcements for the school wireless environment construction project in collaboration with the Korea Information Society Agency. This project, which will install gigabit wireless routers in approximately 209,000 classrooms nationwide by the first half of next year, will involve a national budget of 148.1 billion KRW and a local budget of 222.6 billion KRW. All outdated routers among the approximately 80,000 currently installed will also be replaced. This is the largest scale network equipment procurement project ever undertaken by the government and local governments, with plans to complete early installation of 70% of the total volume by February next year and finish construction in all classrooms by the first half of next year.

Through this project, the inconvenience experienced by teachers who had difficulties conducting real-time interactive classes or transmitting content will be greatly reduced, and multiple students will be able to access the internet simultaneously in classrooms with stable and fast speeds. With the introduction of compatible network equipment, it will also be possible to operate a network management system based on 'Software Defined Networking (SDN)' that supports temporary speed increases due to traffic overload. Koo Yeon-hee, Director of the Lifelong Future Education Bureau at the Ministry of Education, stated, "Through this school wireless network construction project, we will strengthen support for remote classes and establish a turning point toward a future education system that integrates online and offline education, as well as education utilizing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)."

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