Dunne: Get business backing for laptops for schoolchildren
3 February 2011

The Ministry of Education should build partnerships with businesses to supply schoolchildren with laptops that many parents cannot afford, UnitedFuture leader and Ohariu MP Peter Dunne said today.

 “Laptops and Ipads are increasingly not just accessories, but essential tools of learning for our children, Mr Dunne said.

 “Schools and parents know that not having them will increasingly mean children falling on the wrong side of a digital and learning divide, but parents’ hearts must sink when they are battling to pay school fees, uniforms and stationery for the year ahead. Now laptops?

 “It is simply too expensive for many families and we need to find ways to make such important learning tools accessible to all children, but particularly those who are less well off,” he said.

 “I think there is a really good opportunity here for the business sector to help out as good corporate citizens.

 “The vast majority of schools would clearly struggle to provide laptops for students with the funding they have – and with the Government borrowing $300 million a week, people understand that there is no bottomless pit of money.

 “As a country, we need to work smart and think smart – and we want our children to do the same.

 “We need to increasingly look at public-private partnerships in areas such as providing transport infrastructure and in health by utilising the capacity of private hospitals to cut surgical waiting lists, so let’s look at the technology needs of our children and how they can be best served,” Mr Dunne said.