Internet-for-schools program lambasted

Bartos of ODS says project gives too much control to companies

By Ben Schiller

Staff Writer

A member of the Parliament's Education Committee says the Education Ministry's much-vaunted Internet-for-Schools project should be rejected for its crass commercialism and communist-style centralization.

The government has won media attention and accolades for its effort to have all schools wired to the Internet by 2005.

But Walter Bartos, deputy chairman of the Parliament's education committee, is unhappy with the government's selection of a private consortium to run the program.

"If you like [George] Orwell, then this is a great way to run the system," said Bartos, a member of the opposition Civic Democratic party (ODS).

He said he was worried that the system, run by a single private consortium, was too centralized and would not fit the individual needs of each school.

Bartos's comments come at a time of growing worry about the role and influence of the private sector in education, both in this country and elsewhere. Campaigners across Europe and the United States say corporations are giving schools gifts, such as computers or soft drinks, in an effort to promote their products to children.

"In this very sensitive period in the life of this country, the Education Ministry is trying to establish a project that will be a 100 percent planned economy," said Bartos, a former teacher. "It's very dangerous that our young people will learn not in a democratic world but in a totalitarian world."

Bartos also said it would be open to abuse by companies that want to use the opportunity to promote and sell their products.

"The most dangerous thing is the closed online, virtual market with one and a half million of the youngest people managed and controlled by one group of companies, without public control," he said.

Last year, the Education Ministry granted a private consortium an exclusive contract to manage the Internet-for-Schools (Indos) program. The consortium is made up of AutoCont, Microsoft, Cesky Telecom, Compaq, Hewlett Packard and Apple Computer.

The consortium will build a Web portal to sell school supplies and services to teachers and provide free electronic learning materials to children.

The goal is to connect more than 25,000 computers from 3,620 schools to the Internet this year. The Education Ministry hopes to have each of the country's 5,200 schools online by 2005.

The companies receive payments based on how many computers they link to the system, which will be managed centrally from computer servers run by the consortium. Compaq spokesperson Senta Cermakova said that the government paid the consortium to buy equipment for the project. The value to Compaq was not just in immediate revenue but "long-term branding support activity," she said.

"If children use Compaq computers today, they are more likely to use them in the future," she added.

Incensed by this marketing strategy, Bartos and about 400 teachers recently signed a petition against the plan.

One signer, Martin Grombirk, a high school teacher in Brno, has an anti-Indos Web site at antiindosh.cmsps.cz.

"The Indos project is a political decision. Education only comes second," he said.

His biggest objection is that students and teachers are forced to use products chosen by the consortium.

"AntiIndos comes from the idea of the Internet as a complex form of freedom, decentralization, and not only something that should be used commercially," writes Grombirk on his site.

Drahomir Franek, a manager for Indos at the Education Ministry, rejected the criticisms. He said the most important thing was to get schools connected.

"The ministry wanted to finish the project as soon as possible and that is why the government contract was commissioned to one general supplier," he said. "If the contract had been awarded differently, schools would not have received the number of PCs they are receiving this year until 2005."

Franek said that Indos was set up with input from teachers.

"We consulted with them the way the project is done. They get the minimum level of technical equipment and then they can buy other components at 35 percent discount."

Indos requires the consortium to invest at least 3 billion Kc, with the state paying a maximum of 1.7 billion Kc to guarantee the system is functioning.

"In the next two stages of the project, the main responsibility for how money is used is given to school headmasters," Franek said.

Jiri Chvojka, a spokesperson for Indos, said there was no plan to use the effort to influence children.

"There will be a scholar portal for daily use in schools. The foundation should allow private companies to have their products there for sale and they will pay the foundation. The foundation will use the money for financing [the Internet connections]," he said.

Chvojka said the independent structure of the group kept costs to a minimum because the ministry could pay for computers as they were connected rather than in one lump sum at the beginning. The foundation will also be eligible for grants from the European Union's Phare program, a development project, that he said were not open to the Education Ministry.

He said total value of Indos to the companies was 4.4 billion Kc ($129.4 million).

The Education Committee's complaints follow accusations from a number of IT companies, including Contactel, Dell Computer and KPNQuest, about the tendering process for the project.

Romana Tomasova, a spokesperson at Contactel, said the company's bid was thrown out "because we put a stamp in the wrong place on a box."

"If you look at how many bidders were rejected from the tender, it is really strange to call it a tender, because there was just one bidder, Cesky Telecom."

Bartos agreed, saying that the tendering process had been completely untransparent.

"It wasn't really a tender because they never compared the prices of all the bids," he said.

But Franek said that many companies would have the chance to participate in the Indos project.

"The consortium has got contracts with 11 hardware and software companies, as well as contracts with 250 local companies, to build the system."

Katerina Svobodova contributed to this report.

Ben Schiller's e-mail address is bschiller@praguepost.com

COMPUTER smarts

Fast facts on the Internet-for-Schools program (Indos)

Goal: All 5,200 schools are slated to have Internet access by 2005

Teachers: 110,00 teachers are receiving lessons on how to use computers and the Internet as educational tools

Connected: 270 schools now have Internet access; 20 more gain access daily

Transparency: The Anti-Monopoly office approved the Education Ministry tender for a company to run the Internet-for-schools program

Objections: Critics say Indos promotes commercialization in the schools and is not tailored to the needs of individual schools