Gyeonggi Office of Education Selects Regional Operators for SchoolNet Service Project

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education will select the Stage 4 SchoolNet service providers on a regional basis.

The SchoolNet service is a project to install and utilize internet communication in schools within the province. Since 2006, service providers have been selected every five years, and the Stage 3 contract will end on December 18 this year.

The Gyeonggi Office of Education will maintain the current approach for selecting Stage 4 SchoolNet services, which has been promoted since last September, where schools prepare requests reflecting their situations and special characteristics, then sign contracts and execute budgets with the finally selected service providers.

However, the Education Support Office will take the lead in integrating orders for services for all schools and institutions within the region, evaluating and selecting telecommunications providers, thereby changing the selection method from the school level to the regional level.

This measure accepts field opinions that it is difficult to select service providers for each school due to the lack of information and communication network specialists, and strengthens the system so that the Education Support Office can fulfill its role and responsibility as the central institution for communication networks of regional institutions and schools.

Each school will submit the 'request details' to the Education Support Office according to the regional schedule, considering the school's situation and characteristics. Later, the school will sign a contract with the telecommunications provider finally selected and notified by the Education Support Office by February next year.

Also, since the school is the contracting party, it can autonomously adjust services such as increasing or decreasing communication speed according to changes in the communication environment and the situation of each school over the next five years.

The Gyeonggi Office of Education plans to extend the Stage 3 SchoolNet service by five months, considering the regional selection of service providers and individual school academic schedules, and to launch the Stage 4 SchoolNet service in May next year.

An Junsang, the Education Information Officer of the Gyeonggi Office of Education, emphasized, "With this decision, schools can secure decision-making authority to improve various internal network conditions while resolving difficulties in the field. We will actively communicate with the Education Support Office, which must integrate and reflect the conditions of each school, and strengthen cooperation and support."