Banjarmasin to provide free WiFi to facilitate distance learning

Illustration - A teacher gives a lesson about introducing the school environment in a distance learning in Jakarta, Monday (July 13, 2020). (ANTARA PHOTO/Rivan Awal Lingga/wsj)

This is one of the solutions offered by the city government to follow up on complaints from parents regarding exhausted (internet) quota, so this program is offered and begins with CSR funds,

Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The city government of Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, will provide free WiFi in the densely populated areas to make it easy for the implementation of distance schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the city still categorized as the red zone, the government does not allow face-to-face learning in schools yet.

Mayor H Ibnu Sina in City Hall last Thursday said, the city government is trying to help children, especially from lower economic families, to take part in distance learning by facilitating free WiFi.

Free WiFi will be installed not only around the urban villages but to touch up to the neighborhood units (RT) and community unit (RW) where there are schools.

This program, said the mayor, is to answer parents' complaints regarding the use of household-scale internet quotas that have recently risen sharply due to distance learning.

"This is one of the solutions offered by the city government to follow up on complaints from parents regarding exhausted (internet) quota, so this program is offered and begins with CSR funds," he said.

For the trial phase, said Ibnu Sina, five to eight WiFi transmitters will be installed in densely populated areas.

"We should also look at the network and bandwidth if possible, thus we choose densely populated areas such as Kelayan A, Kelayan B, Sungai Andai, Teluk Dalam, also Kampung Melayu. So not all urban villages," he said.

Ibnu Sina acknowledged this program is still in planning. In the future, a comprehensive study will be conducted first considering this is closely related to budget allocation.

Indeed, he said, currently there is a school operational assistance fund (BOS) which use is not fully observed. However, the current government policy only is used to subsidize credit (pulsa) to teachers.

When the program later runs, Ibnu Sina wants free WiFi to be really intended for school children. He doesn't want the program to be abused later.
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