Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) said it has joined hands with Etisalat for the successful completion of an ICT Infrastructure and Technical Support Project in 268 schools across the emirate.

According to Adec, the Dh330 million ($90 million) project is aimed at improving the quality of learning outcomes across schools by integrating the latest technology and offering both wire and wireless high-speed Internet connectivity.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark this achievement in Abu Dhabi, Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, the director general of Adec said, 'We are keen to equip schools with the latest technology that helps organize the relationships between Adec HQ staff, school teachers, administrative staff and students, while implementing effective policies, plans and programs that will help elevate the quality of education.'

He was accomopanied by top Etisalat representatives, including chairman Mohammad Omran, CEO Saleh Abdullah Al Abdooli and Etislalt group CEO Ahmad Abdul Karim Julfar.

Mohammed Salem Al Dhahiri, the executive director school operations, Salem Al Sayari, executive director support services sector from Adec were also present at the ceremony.

Dr Al Khaili said Adec public schools were currently connected to a fiber optic network that provides both wire and wireless high speed internet services to support new educational initiatives such as iClass, E-learning, and other IT applications and initiatives.

'Teaching and administrative staff will be able to carry out their duties using all ICT services and systems smoothly with no unforeseen failures,' explained Dr Al Khaili.

Etisalat, he said, was selected in order to offer high quality support services designed to help end users save time and address technical problems effortlessly.

Adec and Etisalat later honoured the team members of Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC), Abu Dhabi General Services Company (Musanada), Cisco Systems.

According to Al Abdooli, the technological development in today’s world was widely used by students.

'The educational sector should be in line with such developments that have significantly changed research resources and educational means in the last five years. Digital tools and social networking applications are actively used to obtain information; thus provision of a network that could meet customers’ needs is of paramount importance,' he stated.        

Under the project, more than 13,864 internet access points have been installed; the biggest number ever existed in one project in the Middle East.

The project needed 1.7 million working hours to be accomplished and cables with length equal to the distance between Abu Dhabi and London were installed,” said Al Abdooli.-TradeArabia News Service