Cabinet has agreed to the upgrade of wireless access solutions for Primary and Secondary Schools.
Speaking at Thursday’s Post-Cabinet Media Briefing, Education Minister Dr. Michael Dowlath said the project will include the expansion of bandwidth at 125 Government and Government-Assisted Secondary Schools, and the installation of network access points at 454 Government and Government-Assisted Primary Schools.
He said the project seeks to address the inadequate wireless connectivity across the nation’s schools.
“The expansion of bandwidth at all Secondary Schools will significantly increase internet coverage within those Secondary Schools. It will extend reliable wireless connectivity to a larger number of classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and other learning spaces. So that by broadening the reach of connectivity, this initiative will ensure that more teachers and students can actively participate in e-learning, e-testing, and other digital educational activities. And in doing so, it will create a modern learning environment that supports artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, and immersive computing.”
Minister Dowlath stated that he will give an update on the roll-out of the laptops to Form 1 students, scheduled for the end of September, as the upgrade of wireless access solutions at schools would be the precursor to this.
“This project is complementary to the government’s thrust to supply all incoming Form 1 students with laptops for the 2025–2026 academic year. So as part of the project, the Ministry will establish a national minimum internet bandwidth standard for Secondary Schools, setting the baseline service at 500 megabytes per second download and 250 megabytes per second upload. And in addition to the installation of network access points at all 454 Government and Government-Assisted Primary Schools, there will be a structured implementation of the cabling and commercial-grade wireless access points.”
Minister Dowlath said the Ministry of Education will be better able to remotely monitor and manage wireless networks across schools, ensuring they function properly. Additionally, the upgrade will enable more effective electronic communication between schools and the Ministry, supporting a shift towards paperless operations.