Schools in internet fast lane

Daryl Aim and student James Taylor work with a video link-up at Kuranui School. Picture / Fotopress

Three years and $48 million into the Government's Project Probe, the effort to extend broadband internet access throughout regional New Zealand is nearing completion.

Probe's key objectives were to ensure all schools and communities had access to broadband and to encourage competition among service suppliers.

Project director Tony Van Horik said that by the end of June every school would have the option to sign up for broadband services.

Probe focused on schools as a catalyst for generating uptake in local communities.

South Waikato's Kuranui Primary School has been getting the benefit of a high-speed internet connection since last June.

The school was beyond the reach of broadband services that could be delivered over ordinary phone lines so is using a wireless service provided by Broadcast Communications and resold by Telecom.

Principal Daryl Aim said the service replaced a "hopeless" dial-up connection.

"The moment that [wireless internet] went in it just revolutionised the school because teachers, students, everyone could access broadband."

The school became a test bed for both wireless internet and video-conferencing technology.

"We felt a bit like pioneers. It was like riding a pushbike one day and driving a Ferrari the next."

Aim said the impact on children, many of whom had never used the internet before, was huge.

"They're using video conferencing as 5-year-olds and it's already become commonplace to them."

Aim has about 50 schools in his video-conferencing address book.

"Every time I go on ... there seem to be more schools appearing. I can see five years from now almost every school in New Zealand having it."

Aim said the power of the new technology was the ability to provide lessons almost anywhere in the world. Learning about Japan from a book could be replaced with an online video conference with a Japanese school.

"You could only go one step better and that would be to hop on a plane and go to Japan," Aim said.

Schools could share scarce resources to provide lessons for each other and online educational seminars could link teachers worldwide.

School Trustees Association president Chris Haines said broadband had many benefits but limited school funding could hinder uptake of the technology.

"They need to balance up day-to-day education and the value of broadband, versus how much money they've got in their budget."

Kuranui has 114 local households signed up as sponsors of the school.

Sponsors earn points on their home phone bill which the school can use towards the cost of Telecom services.

The resulting funds had been enough to cover the cost of services that Aim said have "opened up the world" for Kuranui's students.

Probe identified about 900 schools where high-speed internet was not available.

Van Horik, of Wellington consultancy Amos Aked Swift, said the target of ensuring broadband coverage for all 900 was about 90 per cent complete.

He estimated about 1500 of the country's 2700 schools had so far signed up for broadband services.

Although the decision was up to individual schools, Van Horik believed the argument to do so was compelling.

"If they want to be part of a modern education society they really do need to get on board with it."

The experience of Kuranui's students was exactly the result Van Horik was looking for.

"The theory was that the kids would become used to using the facility and consequently would be encouraged to use it at home as well.

"It's a great way of educating the rest of the family."

Using schools as a catalyst would, he said, help national coverage reach about 97 per cent of the population by the end of the project.

But a small percentage of people not living near a community school could still be left out in the cold.

Van Horik said the potential value of broadband to these people should not be underestimated.

"It could well be that 50 per cent of the farming community is still not covered.

"It's only a small percentage of the population that live out in the rural areas but they may well be contributing quite significantly to gross domestic product."

Probe progress

* The $48 million project has so far made broadband internet access available to 90 per cent of targeted schools.
* An estimated 1500 of the country's 2700 schools have taken up broadband services.
* The School Trustees Association says broadband has many benefits but limited school funding could restrict uptake.