For urban schools the ability to access a wealth of online learning resources is a matter of fact. Journey further into rural areas, some of the regions poorest and the picture is completely different.
Rural schools are largely left without access to this invaluable resource. Lack of infrastructure investment is the primary issue with smaller communities suffering, due to diminishing returns on government investment in regions with few subscribers.
Unlocking access to the internet builds a degree of self sufficiency for rural schools, allowing access to up to date curriculum education programmes, trusted e-learning resources among many other benefits such as video and social media.
Leokonnect established a network based upon the trusted iDirect solution, which leverages bandwidth efficiency and scalability as well as a comprehensive suite of tools to provide a reliable, high performance and scalable network able to meet the growing demands of online education.
More than 20 systems were deployed to rural schools with the applicable bandwidth and ability to grow organically as further systems are deployed. In order to achieve maximum efficiency and resilience, the chosen satellites provided the best coverage footprint, beam strength and elevation to ensure quality and sustainability.
A key factor in choosing the iDirect solution beyond the capacity requirement is monitoring capability. Continuity of service is mission critical for schools and as such a constant overview of network performance and conditions was deemed a necessity. iDirect provides a complete suite of tools that provide both real-time and historical insight in order to ensure continuous operation.