Technology
2. Technology laws, policies, plans and regulations
2.1. Education technology legislative and policy framework
2.2. Technology infrastructures, technological capacity of schools and learning environments
2.3. Technology competencies of learners and teachers
3.1. Institutions in charge of technology in education and coordination mechanisms
1. Terminology
The 1968 Constitution of Nauru, 2017 Inclusive Education Policy and Guidelines, 2011 Education Act and 2018 Communications and Broadcasting Act do not mention the terms "information and communications technology (ICT)" or "educational technology (EdTech)" nor define them.
The term ICT is mentioned in the 2005-2025 National Sustainable Development Strategy, 2019-2030 National Sustainable Development Strategy of Nauru and the 2015 Cybercrime Act, but no definition of the term is provided.
2. Technology laws, policies, plans and regulations
2.1. Education technology legislative and policy framework
Constitution and laws: The 1968 Constitution of Nauru guarantees the provision of education to every citizen, with no specific reference to technology.
There is similarly no mention of technology or distance learning in the 2011 Education Act, which aims to make high-quality education available to each school-age child in Nauru to maximise their educational potential and enable them to become effective and informed community members.
The 2015 Cybercrime Act aims to establish various safeguards against harassment and mishandling of personal information and data in the digital environment.
The 2018 Communications and Broadcasting Act aims to facilitate and promote the development of the telecommunications sector in order to promote social and economic development. Online education services are included as part of its definition of a “content applications service”.
Policies, plans and strategies: The 2007 Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) Acceptable Use Policy aims to inform individuals of acceptable and unacceptable uses of various internet services.
The main vision of the 2005-2025 National Sustainable Development Strategy of Nauru is to improve and sustain economic growth and the provision of social services with the help of information and communications technology. Furthermore, the Long-term Milestone of 2025 of the 2005-2025 National Sustainable Development Strategy aims to develop and update information and communication technologies.
One of the priority goals of the 2019-2030 National Sustainable Development Strategy of Nauru is to provide universal and reliable access to internationally competitive communication services and independent and commercially viable media. Providing access to quality education opportunities, both formal and non-formal, is also one of the important priority goals of the 2019-2030 National Sustainable Development Strategy of Nauru.
The 2017 Inclusive Education Policy and Guidelines aims to continue to encourage dialogue and change towards improving the practices of inclusive education. One of the main practices of inclusive education is using assistive technology techniques.
Developed in cooperation with the Government of Australia, the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 Nauru COVID-19 Development Response Plan aims to develop Nauru's education (along with health, economic, law) sector.
Digital competency frameworks: Nauru adheres to the 2018-2030 Pacific Education Regional Framework, which aims to integrate ICT into learning programmes to create effective and efficient new ways of learning and to leverage and expand the use of ICT as an access tool to education, including inclusive education and the provision of differentiated pathways.
One of the main strategic priorities in the 2018-2030 Pacific Education Regional Framework is to establish quality learning environments through appropriate pedagogy and new technologies. The regional framework additionally aims to develop models for TVET that emphasize its relevance to industry and the labour market, facilitating opportunities provided by ICT.
The 2004 Nauru Curriculum Footpath provides a framework to assure that students will be able to live in and contribute to both Nauru society and complex, global and networked society. Problem-solving, learning to learn creatively with design, engineering and digital technologies, collaborating with peers, and awareness of health and well-being are some of the skills mentioned in the 2004 Nauru Curriculum Footpath necessary for students to acquire. Furthermore, the 2004 Nauru Curriculum Footpath highlights the need to learn scientific and mathematical skills to understand, impact and shape the world.
Changes occurred as a result of COVID-19: The 2020-22 Nauru COVID-19 Development Response Plan and the 2020-22 Nauru COVID-19 Development Response Plan aimed to address COVID-19 impacts in the education sector, “strengthen IT systems” for the provision of distance learning, mitigate the impact of ongoing cyber threats, and develop work readiness and skills to support labour mobility.
2.2. Technology infrastructures, technological capacity of schools and learning environments
2.2.1. Technology infrastructure and digital capacity of schools
Electricity: The 2005-2025 National Sustainable Development Strategy aims to provide an adequate supply of electricity provided to all households and businesses at a reasonable cost, with no reference to schools. The 2019-2030 National Sustainable Development Strategy of Nauru similarly recognises the need to increase electricity supply in Nauru, with no explicit mention of schools.
Computers and devices: The 2017 Inclusive Education Policy and Guidelines emphasise the need to keep a range of up-to-date assistive devices, equipment, computers and computer software or programmes available for use by teachers and stakeholders.
Internet connectivity: The 2005-2025 National Sustainable Development Strategy aims to provide broadband internet services to all schools.
2.2.2. Technology and learning environments
The 2020-22 Nauru COVID-19 Development Response Plan emphasised the need to include the strengthening of "remote learning" and IT systems to make this possible.
2.3. Technology competencies of learners and teachers
2.3.1. Learners
The 2019-2030 National Sustainable Development Strategy of Nauru emphasises the need to improve computer literacy skills.
There is no mention of STEM subjects in the 2017 Inclusive Education Policy and Guidelines. However, the policy highlights that students engage in an academic programme concentrating on core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics in the Able Disable Centre, a Centre for special education for children with disabilities.
The 2018-2030 Pacific Education Regional Framework, which the country adheres to, highlights the need to build learners' capacity in the areas of information and digital literacy. The regional framework additionally emphasises the development of communication and financial literacy and identifying suitable processes to resource and implement life-skills programmes that develop learners' core competencies and employability through cross-curricula approaches.
2.3.2. Teachers
The Medium-term Milestone 2015 of the 2005-2025 National Sustainable Development Strategy aimed to increase the services of quality teachers available through broadband internet services.
The 2017 Inclusive Education Policy and Guidelines recognise the need for teachers' training in the use of appropriate augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, educational techniques and materials (including assistive technology techniques) to support students with disabilities. There are also provisions for providing professional development in inclusive education practices for in-service teachers through school-based professional development sessions.
Along with the provision of special training, strengthening pre-service training programmes and developing regional mechanisms for the validation of teacher training programmes are also mentioned in the 2018-2030 Pacific Education Regional Framework. However, the regional framework does not specifically mention the potential areas of training programmes.
2.4. Cybersecurity and safety
2.4.1. Data privacy
The 1968 Constitution of Nauru grants various rights related to privacy. Although the right to privacy is not explicitly mentioned, it is embodied in the right to personal protection, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and other similar rights granting personal protection to the individual.
Nauru does not have an explicit data protection law. However, provisions regarding the protection of information and ethical use are provided in the 2007 ICT Acceptable Use Policy, 2018 Communications and Broadcasting Act and 2015 Cybercrime Act, with no specific reference to schools.
According to the 2007 ICT Acceptable Use Policy, unauthorised access to the Internet service or to any other computer system through the Internet service, attempts to log in through another person's account or access another person's files and disrupt the computer system or destroy data by spreading computer viruses or by any other means, and threatening the safety of a person are categorised as illegal actions. The policy additionally emphasises the need to respect the right of copyright owners and avoid plagiarism on the internet.
According to the 2015 Cybercrime Act, "Internet service providers, access providers, hosting providers, caching providers, hyperlink providers and search engine providers are required to maintain the confidentiality of individuals' electronic data/computer data collected through an electronic system".
The 2016 Child Protection and Welfare Act aims to protect children's personal information.
According to the 2018 Communications and Broadcasting Act, a telecommunication service provider shall not disclose a subscriber's information and communications without the subscriber's written consent or unless the disclosure is required by Act or any other written law (Article 48). The same is applied to all agents and employees of service providers.
However, the above-mentioned legal instruments do not explicitly mention guaranteeing data privacy and protection from using technology in education.
2.4.2. Online abuse and cyberbullying
There are no specific laws in Nauru regarding cyberbullying. However, protection against cyberbullying is indirectly provided under the 2018 Communications and Broadcasting Act and the 2015 Cybercrime Act.
According to the 2015 Cybercrime Act, "initiating any electronic communication with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause emotional distress to a person, using an electronic system to support severe, repeated, and hostile behaviour is a punishable offence and leads to imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years" (Article 22).
Furthermore, the 2015 Cybercrime Act and the 2018 Communications and Broadcasting Act recognise producing, offering, distributing, and possessing child pornography material through an electronic system as a punishable offence leading to imprisonment for a period of no exceeding ten years.
Protection of children against online and sexual abuse is also indirectly provided under the 2016 Child Protection and Welfare Act.
However, there is no explicit mention of preventing and responding to online abuse and cyberbullying of students in the above-mentioned legal instruments.
3. Governance
3.1. Institutions in charge of technology in education and coordination mechanisms
Under the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Telecommunication, Media and ICT, the Department of Information Communication and Technology (ICT)'s primary objective and goal are to improve services, enhance user satisfaction, broaden the scope of product offerings, and reach the desired vision of building e-governance through e-education and e-health. It focuses on providing a reliable and resilient internet network within reach to all government departments and offices, schools and health clinics.
The main responsibility of the Cyber Security Awareness Team (CSAT) of the Department of ICT is to provide cyber-security awareness to all government departments.
Responsible to the Ministry of Telecommunication, Media and ICT, the Nauru Communications Authority is established under the 2018 Communications and Broadcasting Act. One of the primary responsibilities of the Authority is to regulate interconnection between communications networks of different service providers.
3.2. Roles of schools
No specific responsibilities of schools with respect to the use of specific devices such as mobile phones or tablets are defined in current laws and policies.
