02 April 2009
Peter Garrett AM
Federal Member for Kingsford Smith
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
Four Kingsford Smith secondary schools will have access to 21st century technology through new funds from the Rudd Government’s National Secondary School Computer Fund.
“I congratulate the secondary schools that were successful in Round 2.1 of this program,” Peter Garrett said.
J J Cahill Memorial High School, Rosebery 23
Matraville Sports High School, Chifley 70
Randwick Boys High School, Randwick 161
South Sydney High School, Maroubra 189
“This fund is a key component of $2 billion Digital Education Revolution, announced by the Prime Minister during the 2007 election campaign, and has committed $1.9 billion in funding for the provision of new ICT equipment in Australian secondary schools.
“In 2008 the government invested $159 million and this round includes over $1.4 million in flexible funding for students with a disability.
“A further $100 million is committed to the deployment of fibre connections to Australian schools, delivering broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second. These initiatives will improve our secondary school students’ access to information, and take us further towards a world-class education system,” Mr Garrett said.
The fund will provide students with greater access to, and more sophisticated use of, information and communications technology (ICT) to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.
The National Secondary School Computer Fund is a partnership between the Federal Government and all educational jurisdictions. The Federal Government has agreed to provide an additional $807 million to education authorities for legitimate on-costs associated with the installation and maintenance of the new computers purchased through the fund as well as future on-costs associated with subsequent rounds.
At the conclusion of the supplementary Round Two process, all schools in Australia have been provided with the opportunity to obtain funds to bring them to a 1:2 computer to student ratio, including funding to address on-costs associated with deployment of additional computers.
More information about the National Secondary School Computer Fund is available at: www.digitaleducationrevolution.gov.au