Canterbury Boys High School and Marrickville High School will have access to 21st Century technology through new funds under the National Secondary School Computer Fund, a key component of the Australian Government’s $2 billion Digital Education Revolution.

This important program was announced by the Prime Minister during the 2007 Federal election campaign and is a commitment of $1.9 billion in funding for the provision of new ICT equipment in Australian secondary schools.

In 2008, through the National Secondary School Computer Fund, the Australian Government has already invested $159 million and this round of the Fund also includes over $1,400,000 in flexible funding for students with a disability. A further $100 million is committed to the deployment of fibre connections to Australian schools, delivering broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.

These initiatives will improve our secondary school students’ access to and use of Information & Communications Technology to prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow, and take us further towards a world-class education system.

Of the schools that applied for Round 2.1 funding, Canterbury Boys will receive 103 computers and $2,000 with Marrickville receiving 55 computers and $19,000.

The Australian Government has agreed to provide an additional investment of $807 million to education authorities for legitimate on costs associated with the installation and maintenance of the new computers purchased through the Fund.

At the conclusion of the supplementary Round Two process, all schools in Australian have been provided with the opportunity to obtain funds to bring them a computer to student ratio of 1:2, including funding to address on costs associated with the deployment of additional computers.

I congratulate both schools that were successful, in this round of the program.

Further information about the National Secondary School Computer Fund is available at: http://www.digitaleducationrevolution.gov.au