Education Minister Trevor Mallard today applauded the partnership that will enable fast Internet access for every secondary school across rural Otago. He also announced that the Government will put $100,000 towards the costs of video conferencing equipment.

“The Community Trust of Otago and Telecom have taken a ground breaking step towards getting all of New Zealand hooked into fast Internet services,” Trevor Mallard said during the launch of the Trust-Telecom initiative today.

Trevor Mallard joined the Dunedin launch via video-conference from Melbourne.

“The joint business-community partnership to get fast Internet access into rural Otago centres is the way of the future.

"The Government supports the achievements and objectives of the Trust’s e-Learning initiatives. I am pleased to announce that I am allocating $100,000 to assist with the initial set-up costs of the video-conferencing equipment.
“The venture fits exactly with the Government’s long term strategy for getting regional and rural New Zealand wired into broadband. The Government wants to see more of this sort of innovation involving business and the community.

“I am currently visiting schools in Melbourne that have well and truly got their heads around how to make the most of technology and the online world to learn more, teach well and give students as much exposure to new ideas and innovations as possible.

“It reinforces to me that placing schools at the heart of the joint Community Trust of Otago/Telecom venture is overwhelmingly positive for the local students and teachers. It has potential to open up learning, teaching and education opportunities that may have been out of reach from some time.

"My vision for education is that all students, irrespective of their backgrounds, develop the knowledge, understandings, skills, and attitudes to participate fully in society, to achieve in a global economy, and to have a strong sense of identity and culture.

" ICT can help make that vision a reality and this partnership is a practical application of one of the infrastructure goals in the draft ICT strategy currently being consulted on.“

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