A National ICT-in-Education Initiative

This chapter presents a unique national initiative: Macedonia Connects, a multi-partner, scaled ICT-for-education project wherein every school across Macedonia was equipped with both computers and wireless Internet connections and through which the Internet was made available to citizens across the entire country. A number of best practices may be identified, including the pre-deployment training of teachers in IT adoption, the equality of provision to promote positive inter-ethnic relations, and the long-term focus on the part of all stakeholders in terms of outcomes. The goals of this project target both educational and socio-economic development. There are many aspects of this case that may be applicable to future ICT-for-development endeavors, and some of Macedonia’s neighboring states have already indicated interest in following this model.