The global Giga Initiative, founded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2019, has reached the milestone of mapping the location and connectivity status of one-million schools.

The multiple-partner initiative has been working to map the Internet connectivity landscape for schools and their surrounding communities as a critical first step towards understanding the scale of investment, actions and partnerships needed to bridge the digital divide and provide all school children around the world with access to digital learning opportunities.

It aims to connect every school to the Internet by 2030 and every young person to “information, opportunity and choice”.

Last year, information and communication technology (ICT) group Ericsson entered into a global partnership with Unicef to support the Giga Initiative’s school connectivity mapping efforts in 35 countries, including South Africa, by the end of 2023.

“Over the past year, Ericsson has provided funding and applied data science to help map Internet coverage in schools across seven countries. Along with contributions from multiple partners, this has helped Giga accelerate the mapping work and pass the one-million-school milestone,” Ericsson says.

Ericsson committed resources for data engineering and data science capacity, providing technical expertise and assistance for the collection, validation, analysis, visualisation and monitoring of school connectivity data, which enables governments and the private sector to design and deploy digital online learning solutions.

“Ericsson’s expertise has helped Giga’s data science team build better models for school connectivity. Technical partnerships like this one are vital to Giga as we create an open-source resource of school locations and connectivity that, as of today, includes more than one-million schools,” says Unicef Giga co-lead Chris Fabian.

Connecting schools to the Internet can enable children to access a wider pool of information as well as a range of learning styles and receive a higher standard of education, while improving digital access, skills and educational outcomes regardless of geography, with knock-on benefits for society.

Further, an Economist Intelligence Unit report, ‘Connecting Learners: Narrowing the Educational Divide’, which was sponsored by Ericsson in support of Unicef, found that nations with low broadband connectivity have the potential to realise up to 20% gross domestic product growth by connecting schools to the Internet, if access is affordable and accompanied by investment in skills, content and devices.

“According to the ITU, 369-million young people do not have access to the Internet and 260-million children aged 5 to 16 receive no schooling. This results in exclusion and fewer resources to learn and limits future potential for many young people. Mapping schools is a crucial first step in connecting every school to the Internet and every student to opportunity and choice,” says Ericsson sustainability and corporate responsibility VP Heather Johnson.

“This milestone of over one--million schools mapped is a testament to the power of public-private partnerships. “It is the first step to achieving universal school connectivity. But there is more to be done and the industry must come together to play its part in closing the digital divide.”

In line with this, Ericsson is calling on Internet service providers and political stakeholders to join Giga and donate their time and resources to accelerate the bridging of the digital divide and use the benefits of global connectivity.