School District 91 (SD 91)has recently announced its partnership with BCNET, a non-profit supporting higher education and research, to provide eduroam, an equitable WiFi access across all its campuses.

“As a remote, rural school district, equitable access to the Internet and high-quality connectivity is an ongoing challenge,” said Manu Madhok, superintendent with SD 91 in a media release. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an accelerated demand for online learning, and we need to offer equitable access for higher education students in North-central British Columbia.”

What this means is that a secure, global Wi-Fi service would now be available at each of its 18 school sites and five administrative buildings and many students with poor or no connectivity would be provided with reliable access to eduroam hotspots to continue their studies online.

The rollout of eduroam would help several post-secondary researchers and graduate students that work alongside SD 91 educators. Students in the school district’s schools too would have quick, seamless access to the internet at 23 eduroam Wi-Fi hotspots all over the school district’s locations.

“As many post-secondary students in our region are former SD91 graduates, the decision to join eduroam was easy, as we want to support the success of students well beyond high school graduation. I also want to thank the SD 91 IT Department who worked through the technological requirements and made it happen,” said Madhok.

“We are pleased to partner with District 91 to help bridge the digital and equity divide by providing post-secondary students with better access to the internet, enabling online learning,” said Bala Kathiresan, president and CEO of BCNET.

“We are grateful that the school district has stepped up to pilot eduroam, supporting students, faculty, and researchers in the higher education community.”

Priyanka Ketkar
Multimedia journalist
@PriyankaKetkar

priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net

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