Children in Years 4, 5 and 6 are to receive Chromebooks as part of an expansion of the Education Directorate’s ‘device program’ during the COVID-19 health crisis.
The Chromebooks had been restricted to students in years 7 to 11 up until now.
Minister for Education, Yvette Berry said the expansion would help children now learning from home to continue their studies.
“ACT public schools are well placed to ensure education can continue as the community steps up to slow the spread of COVID-19,” Ms Berry said.
“Additional Chromebooks are being provided to students by their public primary schools to ensure equitable access to online and home-based learning.”
She said the Directorate would work with families to arrange distribution of the devices to the students.
“Digital tools are utilised daily within public schools, including Google Classrooms, allowing for a smoother transition to alternative methods of learning for students as a natural extension,” Ms Berry said.
She said students would be able to access the new Learning Resource Library, launched by the Directorate this week, to support students learning from home.
“The Learning Resource Library has already seen 40,000 hits, including across the country and the globe,” Ms Berry said.
She said the Directorate had supplied more than 20,000 Chromebooks to ACT public school students since the program was introduced in 2017.
Ms Berry said the use of Chromebook devices aligned with the objectives of the Australian Curriculum, which required students to understand how to operate effectively in a digital world.
