Ontario schools will get Internet upgrade

$50M investment could ease pressure previously caused by use of Snapchat, Instagram

Ontario students will get up to speed with a $50-million provincial investment in broadband access — and it may even help them get Snapchat back.

Education Minister Mitzie Hunter announced the funding on Monday, saying it is about “ensuring that as they are learning in the classroom, they have the technical support in place to support that learning.”

The money will bring schools up to an industry standard of one megabit per second, per student, she said in an interview.

Students will notice the difference in speed, Hunter also said. “The reality is that the world is complex, it’s changing and there are so many different demands on students in the very different ways in which they are working . . . we want to make sure Ontario students are equipped.”

Some 182 schools are first in line for funding, with a focus on better serving those in rural and remote areas, starting this fall.

A week ago, the Toronto District School Board announced it was blocking all Wi-Fi and network access to Snapchat, Netflix and Instagram in schools until the end of June saying those sites alone accounted for one-fifth of daily network use.

It was overloading an already slower network, meaning even inputting daily attendance or working on report cards “have become almost impossible to complete,” the board said.

While students found ways around the ban, schools have said the new measure has had an impact and the system is working faster.

The board plans to update its network over the summer for all schools.

The Avon Maitland District School Board also recently ended access to Snapchat because it too was taking up too much bandwidth.

University of Toronto professor Alberto Leon-Garcia said if a school has 1,000 students, one megabit per second per student equals one giga-

“The reality is that the world is complex. . . . We want to make sure Ontario students are equipped.” MITZIE HUNTER EDUCATION MINISTER

bit per second and “for an entire school, that is pretty good today. Now the speeds that are available commercially for an entire school can be much higher . . . so it comes down to how that megabit per second per student is calculated.”

He said “it will help, but the history of usage is users just increase their appetite according to what’s available,” added Leon-Garcia, who is a professor of electrical and computer engineering.

At a speech last week to the Canadian Club, Hunter said the one-megabit industry standard was important “because I know in the world of tomorrow, computing power will be the technological equivalent of fresh water . . . and with this commitment, we are signalling that we appreciate how important it is that this resource be made available widely and fairly.”

The Toronto public board says it provides varying Internet speeds because different networks are used.

The Peel District School Board has plans to double its bandwidth this summer, said spokesperson Carla Pereira.

As for once again getting access to Snapchat and Instagram, Hunter said that “certainly the Toronto District School Board had to prioritize” and noted the ban is expected to be lifted in the fall. “I’m sure students have been very clear that they would like to have that type of access.”