Havana, April 30 (RHC) –- All 295 high schools and 395 polytechnic institutes in Cuba will be connected to the Internet during the next school year, according to the Cuban Education Ministry.

The director of Educational Informatics Services at the Cuban Education Ministry, Fernando Ortega, told reporters in Havana that the initiative aims to provide Internet access to the largest possible number of education professionals.

Some 26 thousand 650 teachers will be able to access the network from their schools by May 2016 so that they find support for their research and academic work.

And by 2017, the ministry expects to have all junior high schools, day-care centers and special schools connected to the Internet in a process that is expected to conclude with the connection of all elementary schools by 2018.

Another initiative looks to distribute tablets for the students, to tackle the current poor access to computers, now standing at about 30 students per computer.