For the expansion of the WLAN network, the municipal school authorities have applied for funding from the digital pact for over 1,000 Hessian schools with a volume of around 47.5 million euros.
In the case of the replacement school sponsors, there were 26 schools with a funding volume of around 660,000 and for the nursing school sponsors five schools with a funding volume of around 215,000 euros, said Minister of Education Alexander Lorz (CDU) in response to a small request from the FDP parliamentary group in Wiesbaden, who appealed to him based on information from the end of July.
The education minister explained that the WLAN equipment in the schools is the responsibility of the school authorities. In order to provide the best possible support for the expansion of the digital infrastructure in the schools in the state, a task force has been set up to advise and closely accompany the school authorities when submitting applications under the digital pact. According to the minister, 1,423 of the roughly 2,000 schools in Hesse now have a gigabit internet connection (as of the end of June). The planning for this was in progress for a further 490 schools.
Lorz emphasized that the expansion of the schools' WiFi is a priority within the framework of the digital pact for schools. The federal funds of the digital pact allocated to Hesse have been increased to around half a billion euros with state and school funding for this purpose. The state government is emphatically pursuing the goal of connecting as many schools as possible to the high-speed network by the end of next year.