Every public school student in Year 4, 5 and 6 will be given a Chromebook device to allow them to participate in online classes during the coronavirus pandemic.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The ACT government already gives free laptops to secondary students, meaning that every pupil from Year 4 to 12 will have their own device when schools start online teaching amid the pandemic.
Education Minister Yvette Berry made the announcement on Saturday, as her department races to prepare the territory's 88 public schools for the shift to remote learning.
The ACT Education Directorate is using the ongoing "pupil-free" period to put teachers through a crash course in the programs they will use to teach online classes if students remain away from schools due to the coronavirus.
READ MORE:
- Public servants to be deployed where need is greatest
- Australia's ICU capacity to be doubled to fight COVID-19
- Relief but no certainty for hairdressers after restrictions eased
- New Zealanders call to be included in welfare eligibility
- Canberra's distilleries turning gin into hand sanitiser
- Opinion: Will a recession cost more lives than the virus itself?
- Coronavirus has cut short the ACT Assembly calendar. Could it delay the election?
- Rent, wages and further lockdown measures on national cabinet agenda
- More coronavirus news
To ensure students have equal access to those online classes, the government is spending $500,000 to purchase an extra 2000 Chromebook devices.
ACT public schools already have access to a pool of 10,200 laptops. The extra stock will mean every one of the approximately 11,000 students in Year 4, 5 and 6 will receive a device.
Ms Berry said schools would work with families to arrange distribution of the Chromebooks.
ACT Education Directorate executive Ross Hawkins said the ACT public school system was well placed to adapt to the unprecedented situation because of the government's investment in digital learning technology.
For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
We have removed our paywall from our stories about the coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we want to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
