More schools expect students to have laptops

File photo / Richard Robinson

More schools are expecting students to have laptops and United Future leader Peter Dunne says the Education Ministry should help.

A state college, Wellington High School, has made laptops compulsory for its Year 9 students.

Seven schools in the Auckland suburb of Tamaki were asking parents to lease netbooks for students in years five to 13 for $15 a month, 3News reported today.

The Secondary Principals Association association president Patrick Walsh said schools had to be careful they stay within the Education Act when developing their computer policy.

"The Act's quite clear that people should not be disadvantaged because of their socio-economic status from achieving everything that's possible in a school," he told Radio New Zealand today.

Mr Dunne said laptops were increasingly important tools and the Education Ministry should build partnerships with businesses to supply them.

"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."

Laptops range in cost from about $500 to more than $1000.

The Ministry of Education did not respond to questions this afternoon.

- NZPA