Thanks to the Bermuda Knowledge Information Network (BKIN) students and teachers of the 21st century will literally have a beacon to guide them through their travels on the World Wide Web.

Under construction now by the Ministry of Education and Business Systems Limited, BKIN will eventually centralise computer resources into one wide-area network, eventually linking all Island schools to libraries and data bases from local sources such as the Bermuda College, the Bermuda Biological Station for Research, the Public Library, and various Government ministries, as well as providing a gateway to global resources via the World Wide Web.

The project says Harichand Sukdeo of the Ministry of Education, is already in the advanced stages in the public school system. Presently five schools are linked to the World Wide Web via a wide-area network tied together by Internet Bermuda Limited.

Students at Warwick, Sandys, Northlands, and St. George's Secondary Schools, and the Whitney Institute have since September been surfing the net from stations set up in their respective libraries.

Next year, as restructuring takes hold across the education system, both senior secondary institutions will also go on line.

Cedarbridge Academy will offer about 20 Pentium-powered workstations hooked up to the network while a similar number is expected to be set up at Berkeley Institute.

The vision said Mr. Sukdeo, is to have a two-to-one student to computer ratio with access through classrooms and libraries, and Internet Bermuda Limited acting in a consultancy role.

"In time we'll have our own homepages and (World Wide Web) domain. There's also talk of creating a global education page for the Internet,'' he said.

BKIN is one of the forward-looking strategies being put into place under the restructured school system, said Mr. Sukdeo: "The concept of global education in the 21st century is here, today.'' COMPUTER CLASS -- Thirteen-year-old William Wolffe and his Northland classmate explore the Internet