Schools ready for Net Day

By Adam Gifford

Schools and businesses around the country are preparing for Net Day on May 15, when more than 200 schools will install a computer network.

Laurence Zwimpfer, chairman of the 2020 Communications Trust, says the scheme is proving its worth as a way to get computing infrastructure into schools.

Telecom this week announced it would come on board as lead sponsor which, Mr Zwimpfer says, should give the initiative "real grunt" nationally.

"A lot of this is about communication, putting together information kits for the schools and providing for a full-time project manager to pull it all together. All that has to be paid for," he says.

Net Day started as a pilot three years ago, organised by the trust and the Wellington City Council.

The first year 36 schools in the Wellington region participated. Last year 126 from all around the country joined in and there are now only about 40 schools in the Wellington region without a network installed.

The concept was pioneered in the United States, where it was shown networking existing computers provided significant benefits.

Volunteers from the business and school communities are required to install a minimum category-5 network of eight PCs. The cabling has to be of professional standard, equivalent to what would be installed in a corporate situation.

Mr Zwimpfer says the Net Day kit, put together by hardware supplier AMP, provides cabling, hubs, network cards, patches, jumpers and other bits needed for less than $1000.

Under a new Ministry of Education dollar-for-dollar subsidy package the voluntary labour used to install the network can be valued, meaning schools can get a network with no capital outlay.

Schools which took part in past Net Days estimate that $4000 is the normal commercial cost of installing a small network.

"Having Net Day as a focus helps schools with their planning and gives them confidence they are doing the right thing," Mr Zwimpfer says.

"If they are going to put cables in the walls and dig up the grounds, they need to know they are doing it right.

"Net Day is about the cabling infrastructure, the boring stuff which makes the exciting stuff possible."

He says that while the Ministry of Education has now been "shamed" into getting behind the project with some resources, "this is a modern-day working bee. Schools have always had that.

"Part of its value is parent involvement and teachers understanding what is involved. There's nothing like a teacher being on site putting cables into the classroom to make them want to understand what it's all about.

"If it's done for them, the plugs are likely to just sit in the walls with nothing connected. The hand-out mentality has down side."

While industry is willing to help, "schools have to help themselves first with a fair bit of commitment and ownership."

There is more information at www.netday.net.nz.