December 01, 2008
Every NSW public school student in years 9 to 12 will get a lightweight, mini laptop or netbook, after the state government recanted its opposition to the Commonwealth's computers in schools program.
Under an agreement struck at Saturday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting, education and schools will receive total funding of $46.4 billion, an increase of $8.3 billion.Under the agreement $807 million goes to fund on-costs of the federal governments computers in schools program, $1.1 billion for disadvantaged schools, $550 million for teacher training, and $970 million for early childhood reforms.
NSW will see an extra $1.1 billion of the new funding.
The millions allocated to fund the on-costs of the computer program particularly pleased NSW Education Minister Verity Firth, who had spoken out against the scheme earlier this year.
Ms Firth was a lone dissenting voice to the computers program, saying it failed to account for implementation costs of up $245 million.
The program was akin to promising someone a brand new suit, providing them with the pants and then asking them to buy the jacket themselves, she said in September.
In a change of face, Ms Firth said NSW would now begin rolling out mini-laptops in the state's public schools by the middle of next year.
"We're really pleased, we're really happy that the Commonwealth has understood the issues of on-costs,'' she told AAP on Sunday.
"We're very happy that all of this has been settled and we can now roll out these laptops by mid next year.
"I imagine at the end of the day there will be funding from us, that's inevitable, but this funding is enough for us to confidently say we can now deliver this.''
Next year NSW would begin rolling out lightweight, three-quarter sized internet-enabled laptops or netbooks to the 197,000 pupil school students in years 9 to 12.
The computers will connect to a wireless system, which will be installed in every state-run high school.
"That means the kids can bring their laptop in, open it up at their desk and just use it,'' Ms Firth said.
As part of the program, the students would be allowed to keep the laptops when they finished high school.
"It is going to be security coded so every student will have their own ID,'' she said.
"It will be connected to the Department of Education network. As it is security coded there will be no impetus to steal one of these, because you won't be able to get access to the network.
"There is a real motivation for them to look after their laptop, because if you look after it you can keep it and take it with you after school.''
The roll out would cost $2245 per student, Ms Firth said.
The costings for the program also included a 10 per cent contingency for damage or loss, she said.
To make sure the scheme runs smoothly, Ms Firth said teachers would be given computer training.
"There is no point giving people the laptop if people don't know how to teach either with the laptop or about the laptop,'' she said.
AAP