Harnessing the young

By : Celia Barnes

   Thirteen-year-old Paweł Miezieucew knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up – a network administrator.

   He’s already had plenty of computer experience: at home on his family’s PC, and every day at school.

   Miezieucew’s school, Gymnasium 45 on Ul. Żelazna in Warsaw, has a state-of-the-art computer lab that was paid for by a government initiative called Interkl@sa.

   Launched in 1998, Interkl@sa was designed to bring Poland’s primary schools, gymnasiums and high schools into the computer age. Since then, it has evolved into a complex grass-roots program that provides computer hardware, software, and as extensive teacher training in every one of Poland’s 2,500 gminas.

   The powerhouse behind the program has been Grażyna Staniszewska – a Freedom Union MP and chair of the Sejm commission on education, science and youth. She has been working on the program since 1996.

   “I was asked to help do something about computer education in Poland because we were beginning to get far behind – not only behind Estonia and Hungary, but also Slovakia and Lithuania, which were always considered poorer countries than Poland,” Staniszewska said.

   Before Interkl@sa, the government was distributing about 1,500 computers to schools each year, meaning that there were about 80 school students per computer. In 1998, armed with a government budget of zł. 95 million ($22.6 million), Staniszewska and her team decided that the best – and fairest – method was to buy 10 new computers and software for one large school in every Gmina.

   Since its launch, the program has exceeded expectations. Local gminas and parents’ committees have also been fundraising and together with Interkl@sa they have put almost 80,000 computers in Polish schools. In the government’s last budget another zł. 100 million was given to Interkl@sa.

   A large map of Poland hanging in Staniszewska’s office gives some idea of how successful this program has been. The map is covered in blue and red pins – each one representing a school that has received computers.

   “And now this map is too small,” Staniszewska said. “It should have twice the number of pins.”

   Staniszewska also said that Interkl@sa is bringing Poland in line with the European Commission’s e-initiative, which aims to turn Europe into an information society by getting schools, government and commerce online.

   But after the launch of Interkl@sa, what soon became obvious was the lack of IT training in Poland, Staniszewska said.

   According to Witold Sartorius, secretary of the Foundation for Economic Education, which oversees the Interkl@sa program, less than 10% of Poland’s 500,000 school teachers have any IT education.

   And Polish society in general is lacking IT training. According to forecasts by International Data Corp. (IDC), by 2003 Poland will have the third-lowest number of net specialists in Europe, meaning that 39% of jobs in this sector will go unfilled. In this region, Romania, Hungary, Russia and the Czech Republic are all better prepared than Poland.

   “This lack of training is a serious problem and it creates a bottleneck for Interkl@sa,” Sartorius said. “We were not able to raise public funds for the problem of teacher training so we had to find other sources of funding and we found Intel.”

   Intel, the world’s largest silicone-chip maker, has a non-profit education program called Teach to the Future. Intel has earmarked $500,000 for the program in Poland and by January 80,000 school teachers will have been trained. On completion, instructors will be able to incorporate the use of computer technology in the school curriculum.

   Similarly, Cisco Systems Poland has joined the Interkl@sa program, establishing its Cisco Networking Academies across Poland. These offer internationally recognized courses in computer networking at a discount.

   Other companies, such as Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA), Microsoft Poland and Sun Microsystems Poland have donated their goods and expertise to Interkl@sa. The Polish-American Freedom Foundation donated funds for Interkl@sa to create its own independent education portal. The portal also provides access to a network of public libraries across Poland.

   Staniszewska also hopes that the school computer labs will be used by local communities for public computer training courses.

   “I think this country is moving toward becoming an information society, but maybe not as fast as it should,” said Jacek Raczkowski, the coordinator of Cisco’s Networking Academy Program. “One of the big problems is the government budget and this is probably why this e-business and e-government has not developed so quickly in Poland. But Interkl@sa has made a great contribution toward getting things going here.”

   Staniszewska calculates that in three years there will be no Polish high school graduate without computer and Internet education.

   “So there will be a whole new generation of young people who know how to use the Internet and want to use it,” she said. “This will force the government and the authorities to become part of the information society.”

   Of course, in light of the election results last week, a change of government could mean a change of heart about a program like Interkl@sa. But according to Staniszewska, Interkl@sa has always received bipartisan support.