Mapping schools by degree of urbanisation : school distribution and connectivity to the internet by degree of urbanisation in pilot countries

Giga is a joint initiative between United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Telecommunication Union to map schools and educational facilities worldwide, along with the quality of their connection to the internet. In this report, the authors demonstrate the use of the Degree of Urbanisation method to break down the amount of schools and their attributes into 7 common settlement typologies for international comparisons, spanning from mostly uninhabited areas to cities, then explore the educational divide in terms of number of schools, between rural and urban areas in relation with Sustainable Development Goal 4 "quality education" of the Agenda 2030. Comparable results are generated for 8 pilot countries, one in South-America (Brazil) and 7 in Sub-Saharan Africa (Benin, Botswana, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone). They indicate that the territorial distribution of schools can be improved by covering most inaccessible territorial units in Brazil, where 333 thousand inhabitants live without any school (85% of which are in rural areas). Overall, in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa schools are sparser, and people may need to cover up to a distance of 18 km to find a school, on average, compared to 3-4 km in urban areas. In all analysed countries, connectivity to the internet is poorer in rural areas compared to urban ones, with for example 60% vs 9% unconnected schools in Brazil. This study highlights the need for targeted policies and investments to address the disparities in school distribution and connectivity to the internet, particularly in rural areas.