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THE GHANAIAN MINISTRY OF EDUCATION SUPPORTS CONNECTING SCHOOLS AND HEALTH CLINICS IN 1,000 UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES.
Affordable and reliable Internet access is increasingly necessary for improving socio-economic conditions and securing higher standards of living. Yet a digital divide exists; more than 3 billion people are still without access to the Internet and cannot participate in today’s global digital economy.
This week the Ghanaian government took an important step toward closing the digital divide by supporting access to the Internet for schools, health clinics, and homes in 1,000 communities in Ghana. Specifically, the Ministry of Education, and Internet Service Provider, BLUETOWN Ghana, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Monday supporting a 5-year project with initiatives to digitally include people in unserved or underserved rural and remote communities.
The following initiatives are part of the proposed project:
- Internet and Local Cloud access in public spaces. Offering Internet within the guidelines of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) and the BLUETOWN Local Cloud with content free of charge to the end-user.
- Connectivity at local schools. The Local Cloud grants students access to standardized digital learning materials and provides access to authorized websites.
- Connectivity at local health clinics. Enabling healthcare workers to access government databases, health information, and in the future telehealth.
- Partnerships to further digital development and inclusion. Partnering with and providing connectivity to projects and digital service providers. Providers who are either already present in the communities with non-digital solutions or who want to enter once connectivity is available.
The project’s pilot phase will cover schools and health clinics in 100 communities, and it will run for six months, commencing early next year. The pilot aims to prove the sustainability of the initiative and measure social and economic impact.
“Working together with the Ghanaian Ministry of Education and other partners on connecting more rural communities is an important step toward closing the digital divide. We know that digital inclusion requires more than simply connecting communities to the Internet, and only in partnerships with all stakeholders, including government, can the digital divide truly be tackled, and the communities uplifted,” says Peter Ib, CEO of BLUETOWN.
ABOUT BLUETOWN
BLUETOWN is a last-mile, rural Internet and digital content service provider on a mission to connect the unconnected. In close collaboration with governments, NGOs, and other companies, BLUETOWN is currently engaging in digital inclusion projects in Ghana, India, and Mozambique, providing affordable and accessible connectivity to more than 3 million people in previously unserved or underserved communities.
BLUETOWN is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a presence in Ghana, India, and The United States.