Labour may give free computers to schoolchildren

Families with school-aged children could be provided with portable computers under a future Labour government.

Education spokesman Trevor Mallard says that is "one of many ideas in the mix" as the party develops its education policy, which will be announced in the runup to next year's general election.

"My initial thinking is that the devices would have to be able to be used both at school and at home – therefore we will have to look beyond the traditional desktop.

"And with technology moving quickly and costs coming down, it would be foolish to dictate the type of hardware at this point."

Mr Mallard says it is possible that in two years' time, suitable computers could be provided for $200 to $300 each.

One option would be to give families a grant that they could use to buy or upgrade a computer.

Education Minister Anne Tolley was hostile. "This is another example of Labour promising to spend money the Government doesn't have.

"What would Labour cut to pay for this half-formed pipedream, which would cost in the region of half a billion dollars?

"The Government is getting on with the sensible plan of targeted spending to upgrade our schools, to make sure they are ready to take advantage of ultrafast broadband."

There are almost 750,000 children in school.

Statistics New Zealand estimates that a quarter of the country's 1.6 million households do not have a computer with internet access at home.

Mr Mallard says his priority would be providing computers to primary school children.

"Delivery might start with those who don't have an internet-capable computer.

"Obviously, there would be some `phasing in', which would have to be part of detail, but we are a long way off from any policy decisions."Computers could be limited to one per household, with siblings using school-based computers.

New Zealand Educational Institute president Frances Nelson says providing computers to schoolchildren is an "admirable idea", but one of the biggest challenges schools would face would be providing technical support, if that was their responsibility.

The institute represents more than 49,000 teachers and support staff.

"There would be a huge amount of money tied up in supplying this kind of assistance to families," Ms Nelson says.

"It can be challenging when you have got stuff moving between home and school. It is quite an expensive piece of equipment.

"We would be interested in teasing out some of those issues with Mr Mallard and the Labour Party."

She expects "a huge debate" if state-funded computers for children became its policy.

"It is usually around whether that is where you want to spend the money, as opposed to whether it is a good idea or not."

Mr Mallard says providing technical support would be an issue. "But an amazing number of young people do it themselves now and if a good centralised help arrangement is available, that could look after harder issues."

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