"For digital teaching, we also need a corresponding digital infrastructure. It is important that school authorities meet their responsibilities and invest in broadband connections - the connection of the Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium in Marbach to the broadband network is exemplary in this respect," says Minister of Education Dr. Susanne Eisenmann. She adds: "The importance of digital teaching will continue to increase. High-performance internet in the state's schools is therefore an important prerequisite for the teaching of the future."
FSG is the largest general secondary school in Baden-Württemberg and one of the first schools to benefit from the ongoing fiber optic expansion as part of the cooperation between Gigabitregion Stuttgart and Deutsche Telekom. District Administrator Dietmar Allgaier emphasizes: "We are delighted that FSG is the first school in the district of Ludwigsburg to receive one of the coveted fibre optic connections. We are fully committed to investing in high-performance Internet access at our schools. By the next school year, all vocational schools in the district will also be connected to the fiber optic network. This will make them fit for the teaching of the future."
During the construction work, the good cooperation between the Marbach building authority and Telekom has literally paid off. By synchronizing the modernization work in the FSG schoolyard with the civil engineering work required for the connection, it was possible to carry out the construction work during the school vacations. Thanks to an optimized route along the footpath, only just under 100 metres of underground construction were required. This also significantly reduced the expansion costs. The first milestone has now been reached with the fiber optic connection. In the second step, FSG will set up WLAN coverage across the entire school campus. Planning for this has already begun.
"The experience of the past few months shows that we now need to digitize our schools with vigor," says Stefanie Kreusel, Group Representative for Education at Deutsche Telekom since June 2020. "In the cooperation between Deutsche Telekom and the Stuttgart gigabit region, connecting schools with fiber optic connections is therefore an integral part of the agreement. We are in the starting blocks to participate in tenders. And as part of the DigitalPakt Schule, we are providing schools with very specific support, from planning and applying for funding to technical implementation." Deutsche Telekom plans to connect a further 1,110 schools in Germany to broadband Internet this year.
Cooperation between Deutsche Telekom and the Stuttgart gigabit region
The focus of the gigabit project is the partnership-based expansion of the ultra-fast fiber optic network. By 2025, not only 50 percent of households and all companies, but also schools in the region should have fast Internet access, and by 2030, 90 percent of all households should have access to a fiber optic connection. By 2025, 99% of the population should also be able to use mobile communications (LTE). There are also plans to rapidly build a high-performance 5G network. Other companies should be able to use the digital infrastructure that is now being created at fair and standard market conditions. The program is also intended to stimulate investments in fibre optics by other market participants.
The expansion area currently comprises 174 municipalities including the city of Stuttgart and the five neighboring districts of Böblingen, Esslingen, Göppingen, Ludwigsburg and Rems-Murr. Around 2.8 million people live in the metropolitan area.
Additional quotes from the speakers in alphabetical order
Hans-Jürgen Bahde, Managing Director of Gigabitregion Stuttgart
"Fibre optics is the material basis for digitalization. I am very pleased that a large and important school like Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium is getting a connection with the help of our cooperation program that not only meets the current requirements for bandwidth and speed, but also those of the future."
Director of Studies Kathleen Kroll, permanent representative of the school management at Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium:
"A reliable and high-performance Internet connection is essential for schools. The last few months have shown us what is possible with online teaching: live-streamed lessons, the didactically sensible use of online tools, annotated homework and various forms of feedback via chat, email and other channels - without fast internet, none of this can be achieved to a sufficient extent by the school's teaching staff. Even when it comes to the digital education of our pupils, when at some point entire classes will be using their tablets online for research assignments, we need stable conditions to be able to teach digital skills. We are delighted that a first step has now been taken with the fiber optic connection."
Jan Trost, Mayor of the town of Marbach
"Digitalization and digital change must be in everyone's minds, because they secure our future prosperity."
