Highschool students will lose right to laptops as government cuts funds

HIGH school students will lose the right to a free laptop next year - and may even be asked to bring their own - as the Federal Government axes its $2 billion laptop fund.

HIGH school students will lose the right to a free laptop next year - and may even be asked to bring their own - as the Federal Government axes its $2 billion laptop fund.

South Australian Education Minister Jennifer Rankine yesterday said each school would decide whether to bill parents for computers, software and maintenance next year. "The parent contribution to school fees and IT is a local decision by the school," a spokeswoman said.

Australian Education Union SA president Correna Haythorpe said some schools were already charging parents $1300 for laptops.

"In South Australia, a lot of people really cannot afford the cost of a laptop," she said yesterday. "This is a real question for the State and Federal Governments - do we end up with a system where some students have a laptop and others won't?"

Australian Secondary Principals Association president Sheree Vertigan predicted more schools would ask parents for BYO computers next year.

"A lot of schools are looking at parents buying their own devices, and offering them deals and support with programs and maintenance," she said yesterday.

Blackwood High School principal Marion Coady said the school had a unique approach to ICT planning and implemented a program in 2008 in which students in Year 8 bought their own laptops. "We facilitated a third party who could assist parents to buy outright or lease payments," she said.

The Federal Government funding for laptops was discontinued in the Budget.