From the Kevin Rudd promise to turn every school into a “digital school” (an admittedly vague commitment) to John Howard’s tax rebates on education expenses, its looked like a Christmas come early.
But just how much of the funding commitments – Rudd said Labor will spend $1 billion over four years on its digital school plan – translates as new money for the industry remains to be seen.
A large number of the middle-class beneficiaries of the election largesse would have purchased computers on a regular upgrade basis anyway – and they’ll simply (and happily) enjoy the middle-class welfare being put forward by both major parties.
Still, in the absence of industry development policy the IT sector might reasonably have hoped for, the money being tipped into the education sector is generally positive for the industry.
Federal Labor’s National Secondary School Computer Fund will allow every Australian student in years 9-12 to have access to their own school computer.
The National Secondary School Computer Fund will allow secondary schools to apply for capital grants of up to $1 million to acquire new or upgrade information technology equipment.
This could include personal laptops or computers, thin clients with virtual desktops and internet network infrastructure to plug our secondary schools into the information superhighway.
Under Labor’s plan, 99 per cent of school children will also get access to broadband connections of speeds up to 100 megabits per second at school through fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband infrastructure.
The other one per cent of students will get improved access at school, via the best available fixed line, wireless and satellite technologies.
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