Recommendations for Evaluation Design

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VII. R

URAL S CHOOLS : A S PECIAL C ASE ICT for rural schools have been gradually becoming a political issue in developing countries. The situation is seen as matter of equity with regard to access to opportunities for improving people’s quality of life. 21 This is generally expressed as the ability to participate in use of available content and services on Internet worldwide [75, 76]. In the Chilean case, ICT for rural schools have been considered a special case, which included a distinctive approach to staff development, different digital content and technology deployment and greater emphasis on community involvement. This chapter addresses the Chilean rural reality and the ICT policy developed for its schools “Rural-Enlaces” as a special case [77]. It also offers a few hints that might help when designing an ICT policy to serve rural schools. Chile has approximately 130,000 rural students in 3,600 schools with an average of 36 students and 2.3 teachers per school 22 . More than 900 schools have less than 15 students each and there are more than 2,100 schools with just 1 teacher.

1. Implementation Constraints in Rural Environments

Rural schools normally make up a larger proportion of the schools in developing countries and have a number of characteristics that impose additional challenges to the integration of ICT, as compared with schools located in urban areas. First, their geographical isolation and precarious infrastructure single room schools; absence of or low-quality electric and telephonic services; inadequate environmental conditions for hardware, etc. make teacher training more expensive and menace hardware’s lifespan. These have been some of the main sources of difficulties for Enlaces. Second, most rural schools are located in areas with low population density, and therefore, they are very small schools , with different grades sharing the same classroom. This pedagogically complex situation poses a number of challenges, but interestingly, it also offers new opportunities for outstanding learning situations using ICT, arguably more so than in urban schools. Third, the particular cultural reality of rural areas involves a special kind of relationship between the school and the local community, which normally lacks technological resources, and suffers from social and professional isolation. Each of these three challenges represents a different dimension in the Chilean ICT implementation policy for rural schools. 21 See also: http:www.wsisgeneva2003.org 22 Source: Chilean Ministry of Education. Programa Educación Básica Rural. 2002. 58 Figure 13. A small Chilean rural school with many grades in one classroom The geographical isolation and infrastructure issues have been solved through close cooperation with other rural development initiatives from the public and private sector. For example, Rural-Enlaces decided to move right behind initiatives that provided electricity to rural communities, either through conventional means public network or local generators or innovative solutions wind power or photo-electric sources. This was a debatable decision because some ICT uses can be introduced without public electricity i.e. using portable computers or handheld devices, but nevertheless, the rapid expansion of rural electricity in Chile allowed Rural-Enlaces to consider the provision of electricity as a basic requirement for a school to participate. Communication infrastructure is usually a more complex issue than electricity. Many rural areas may have electricity, but lack telephone lines or mobile phone coverage, which makes it difficult, or economically unfeasible, to use conventional Internet access solutions such as those provided in urban areas. Additionally, in those rural areas that do have regular communication services, they are probably much more expensive than equivalent services in urban areas. Even though it is technically possible to provide Internet access to rural schools regardless of their geographical location, there are still considerable costs for a small-scale implementation i.e. for one, or a few dozens of schools. A larger scale design i.e. a district, or the whole country, may make the costs per school more affordable, but it will certainly require a high-level political decision to secure a public investment of that magnitude. In such cases, it would be desirable that the provision of Internet access to rural communities involved not just schools, but other public services such as health and private users, as well. In 1995, the Chilean government established a Universal Access Fund providing public telephone systems to isolated rural areas through a competitive “bidding for subsidies” program. In 7 years, the Fund provided public telephones to approximately 6,000 rural localities containing about 2.2 million inhabitants. Excluded population dropped from 15 to 1. Total investment was 161 million, 86 funded by private companies. This mean there was 7 of private investment for each 1 of subsidy. The main success factors were reliance on market forces; minimal regulation; simplicity and speed; competence and leadership. Geographical isolation directly relates to higher costs in transportation services i.e. bringing personnel together for training, delivery and maintenance of equipment, etc. Since many rural schools dont have nearby public transportation, access is a major constraint for the provision of in -service teacher training. In addition to transportation costs, difficulty of access during certain periods of the year i.e. rainy or snowy season, or particularly remote locations i.e. schools in distant islands, required Rural-Enlaces to design a teacher training and