Optus data donation scheme to help 6000 Aussie students access lessons during COVID-19 pandemic
Australian secondary students struggling to access online classes during the coronavirus pandemic will get a lifeline with a new scheme delivering free internet access.
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Six thousand Australian high school students will soon receive free access to online classes in a new scheme principals say has the potential to “change lives”.
The fast-tracked service, created by Optus in partnership with the Australian Business and Community Network, will target disadvantaged students who are struggling to access online classes during the coronavirus pandemic.
And the students will receive allowances as big as 30 gigabytes a month to connect to their teachers, friends, and mental health services, along with a little help from the public.
Optus plans to offer the students a lifeline as a new part of its Donate Your Data campaign, and chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said it could assist “young Australians who don’t have regular access to the internet”.
“It is essential that young Australians can continue to learn and stay connected with their classmates,” she said.
ABCN chief executive Allegra Spender said the group and Optus were initially working with 60 New South Wales high schools to distribute 500 prepaid SIM cards to students in need.
Each SIM would deliver unlimited national calls and text messages as well as 10GB of downloads, an Optus spokesman said, with another 20GB provided by customers participating in the Optus scheme.
Six thousands prepaid SIM cards would be delivered to students nationally as part of the scheme, Ms Spender said, with the aim to distribute as many as possible before the start of term two when more schools would offer online classes to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
“We’ve asked for submissions two days ago and we’re getting hundreds of responses already,” she said.
“We work with students who have so much to give but there can be barriers to them achieving their full potential. This is about giving them the access to the data, to phone calls, and helping them stay connected at a time when there is so much disruption and uncertainty.”
Cabramatta High School Principal Beth Godwin said as many as 40 per cent of students at the school struggled to get access to reliable broadband or a data allowance large enough to complete their studies online.
Some families with multiple students were trying to access the internet with a modest data allowance from their mobile phones, she said, while others were travelling to the school regularly to collected printed copies of lessons.
“I was just talking to a young girl in year 11 and she’s got 2GB of data for her whole family,” she said. “At the moment she’s coming in to work in the library and get on to all the appropriate class sessions. (This) will change her life. It will make learning possible.”
Ms Godwin said even though lessons were moving online, internet access was increasingly difficult to access for families with “a lot of parents losing their employment” due to new business closures.
“When you’re in that kind of situation you have to think about what you can afford as a family: you’ve got food and shelter and anything on top of that is a luxury,” she said.
Students in need of help can register through their school, while Optus customers can “donate” their unused monthly data allowance through the MyOptus app or, from a prepaid service, by texting the word ‘donate’ to 4567.