Guatemala City/Prensa Latina
The (unicameral) Congress of Guatemala seeks to approve a law to guarantee free access to the Internet in schools, colleges, universities and their students, given the inequality today on this issue.
After last week’s debates, the president of the Legislature, Nery Ramos, highlighted the importance of having regulations of this type and assured that, when finalized, the benefit will be for the entire population.
Initiative 5889, presented by the Semilla party in Parliament at the beginning of March 2021 based on the damage of the Covid-19 pandemic and the delays in technological advancement and existing digital innovations, passed its first two readings.
With the regulations, the Ministry of Education and national universities would have to create a list of useful pages for the development of research and delivery of online assignments, among other school activities.
The Telecommunications Superintendency would be in charge of receiving the information and enabling Internet providers to release their access.
I would establish that the browsing speed on free sites is at least five megabytes per second; However, some deputies proposed a modification in this regard, to exceed that figure.
The Law, according to local analysts, motivates public debate about the Internet and the technological development that this Central American territory needs, where the computer network is a luxury for a certain part of the citizenry.
Only 21.3 percent of Guatemalan homes have a computer and 17 percent have access to navigation either by coaxial cable, fiber optics or landline, the latest official data showed.
The poverty gap in the country is reflected in connectivity and, for example, in the department of Alta Verapaz 86 percent of its inhabitants do not have access to the Internet, closely followed by Quiché with 85 and Huehuetenango 80 percent. hundred.
In educational, political and technological terms, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Government allocates just 0.029 percent of the gross domestic product for scientific research and development.
This number contrasts with that of the States in the region and is far from the great powers such as the United States, China, Japan and South Korea.
#Internet #free #schools #universities #Guatemala
