School students may win social networking reprieve

Beverley Head
Monday, 15 March 2010 14:20

Your IT - Mobility

The NSW Government is considering relaxing its block on government high school students using social networking sites.

Speaking to Year 9 students from Kogarah High School this morning the Minister for Education and Training, Verity Firth was quizzed about the extent of the blocks. Ms Firth told the students “We are working with students and parents to give you more access. But we have to be careful; we want you to learn.”

At present year 9 and 10 students who have Government issued netbooks access the internet through the NSW DET portal, which blocks access to social networking sites such as Facebook.

Ms Firth later said that a series of stakeholder round tables had been held involving parents, students and school P&C representatives to discuss the current blocking policy. “One suggestion is that we could relax social networking at home. We are not interesting in you social networking at school,” she said.

The Minister added that access to social networking sites would be a privilege to be earned, rather than a right – and would probably initially only be available for senior students.

This morning’s launch of the 2010 rollout of Government issued netbooks was also attended by Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing. Lenovo, the Chinese company which bought IBM’s personal computer business in 2005, is supplying the Windows 7 based netbooks to the NSW DET.

The programme is funded by the Rudd Government’s $442 million Digital Education Revolution initiative. Unlike other States and Territories, which have largely left schools to decide how to spend their share of the $442 million pot, NSW has been prescriptive – providing a Lenovo netbook, running Windows 7, and equipped with a range of Adobe software to all year 9 students in government schools.