Slow internet continues to clog up education services in Moray despite a number of network improvements.
Reports from last year indicated teachers had been waiting more than an hour to login and access online education services.
Council officers said this waiting time has since improved, now taking a mere 15 minutes to login during busy times.
Councillors were told archaic tech systems have meant simple tasks like video calls have used enough bandwidth to disrupt school networks.
A roll-out of network improvements across education services in Moray is currently underway, starting in secondary schools.
What problems have schools reported?
Council officers said they had received reports from some schools that just one staff member on an online meeting was enough to disrupt the school network.
IT issues were first raised last year, with some teachers and janitors reporting waits of over an hour to get logged into the school’s internet systems.
The council say they have since been improving services, with plans to install fibre networking across the school network coming later this year.
Why is the internet struggling to keep up in schools?
The network used by schools has limited internet bandwidth, which has been struggling to cope with heavy usage during school hours.
The is due to the old internet systems and devices still in use in schools.
Council officers have referred to a number of schools still with “a very old style of infrastructure,” limiting connectivity.
Since ditching old internet supplier Capita, the council have now contracted in BT to complete the improvement works.
What improvements are being made to the internet in Moray schools?
Since last year, officers said network capacity improvements have been made to reduce login waits.
This has seen waiting times to access school systems drop from over an hour in some cases to an average wait of 15 minutes under a busy spell.
Further infrastructure plans to future-proof the network with faster, higher capacity fibre networking are scheduled for this year.
The first roll-out of the new tech started in secondary schools across Moray which have since reported connection improvements.
Primary schools will be next in line to see speedier services.
Is there an impact on teaching?
Deputy Chief Executive for Education Denise Whitworth said poor internet connectivity can become a distraction for teachers.
“My expectation would be that no one talks about logins in education, that actually those things happen as a matter of course and in a speedy way and there is no lost learning or teaching time in our schools.
“Our pupils in Moray should not be experiencing anything less, digitally, than in other parts of Scotland.”
Committee chairwoman Kathleen Robertson said the issue was not limited to Moray and will discussed in a meeting of Highlands and Islands authorities in May.
She said: “Enhancing digital connectivity in our schools is a key priority.
“While we recognise there are still challenges to overcome, the additional bandwidth and ongoing updates should help improve connectivity.”
The council will be presented with a further connectivity update in September.
Conversation