Digital turnaround for Brussels schools - Brussels-Capital Region

What you learn in your youth stays with you! That also applies to digital literacy. With this in mind, the Brussels-Capital Region has developed an ambitious plan to support secondary schools in their role as "training centres" for pupils. This plan is called "My school goes digital!" and focuses on two axes: providing schools with the necessary IT equipment and Installing Wi-Fi in schools. 

The goal of the project is to deploy high-speed Wi-Fi in  240 secondary schools across Brussels with a high share of vulnerable pupils by 2024. To achieve this objective, several measures are being implemented, including installing around twenty Wi-Fi antennas per school and deploying wireless routers. The project is supported by a 5.2 million euros subsidy from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

One of the schools benefiting from this investment is the Institut Notre-Dame d'Anderlecht. Combined with the use of Chromebooks (inexpensive computers that require a strong internet connection), the high-speed Wi-Fi network allows simultaneous connection of about twenty students per class, totaling around 500 students and their teachers. 

Students can, among other things, watch differentiated videos with all the necessary comfort. To date, about 200 devices can be connected to Wi-Fi, and the school aims for 400 devices within two years. In practice, three access points have been planned: for teachers, the hidden network to connect the IT equipment, and the visitor network. The whole system is highly secure. 

Watch the video here

Additional links:

• https://irisnet.brussels/fr/communique-de-presse/le-wifi-debarque-dans-les-ecoles-bruxelloises   
• https://be.brussels/en/education-teaching/my-school-goes-digital 

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