Minister for Education Julia Gillard has written to secondary school principals across Australia inviting them to participate in the Labor government's so-called "digital education revolution".
The Deputy Prime Minister wrote to the principals ahead of the closure of the first nationwide audit into the state of IT across secondary schools, currently being undertaken by state and territory governments under the supervision of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG).
Credit: ALP
"The audit will identify the existing number of computers in each school to facilitate the commencement of the application process for the neediest schools in early March, with applications closing in early April 2008," Gillard said in a statement. "The first [AU]$100 million of the National Secondary School Computer Fund will be directed to the schools most in need by June 2008."
Secondary schools will be able to apply for grants of up to AU$1 million each to improve their ICT, depending on factors such as levels of enrolment and the level of technology upgrades required.
A Labor Party spokesperson told ZDNet.com.au today that the open letter to the country's high school principals was drafted to encourage all of them to apply for funding.
Although each school is being encouraged to seek funding of their own accord at the moment, it is understood that the government intends to write directly to the principals of the schools identified as being most in need after the completion of the audit, instructing them to apply immediately for the first round of funding.
Speaking at a press conference last month, Gillard discussed some of the findings of the audit at its halfway point and said it had been found that children in some schools "virtually had no access" to computers.
Applications for the second round of funding will open in July, after the first round of funding is allocated to the priority cases across the country.
