Schools reminded not to pass digital tech costs on to parents

<h4>Schools are urged to be mindful that they cannot by law charge for delivering the curriculum&comma; including requiring students to bring in electronic devices&period;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">With digital technology now officially on the New Zealand Curriculum&comma; it has become the norm for schools to encourage families to buy computers for their children to use as part of a BYOD policy&period; Many schools include the device on the list of required stationery&period; But&comma; says the Child Poverty Action Group &lpar;CPAG&rpar;&comma; schools cannot by law charge for delivering the official curriculum&comma; and already overstretched families face the dilemma of either taking on significantly more debt to fund the purchase or seeing their children disadvantaged at school&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">A <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;stuff&period;co&period;nz&sol;business&sol;money&sol;88562690&sol;schools-byod-or-bring-your-own-device-demands-are-a-rising-cost-to-parents" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">basic device<&sol;a> may cost several hundred dollars&comma; while a higher quality one can cost well over &dollar;1&comma;000&period; On top of this&comma; parents may need to buy accessories and additional insurance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Time payments for such purchases may end up costing more in the long run through high interest rates&period; Many families turn to short-term loan providers to ensure their children are as adequately equipped as their peers&comma; resulting in ongoing&comma; increased weekly costs&comma;” says CPAG’s education spokesperson Professor John O’Neill&comma;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&&num;8220&semi;The Ministry of Education &lpar;MoE&rpar; and Education Review Office &lpar;ERO&rpar; have a role to play&period; MoE needs to advise Government on the funding levels that schools require to meet all the costs of curriculum delivery&comma; including digital technology&period; ERO needs to ensure schools follow the law in terms of charging fees and requesting donations&comma; and in being reasonable in their expectations of how much overstretched families will contribute to meeting the cost of a 21st century learning experience for children&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&&num;8220&semi;Introducing digital technology into the curriculum is a good thing&period; Expecting schools to include these in a stationery pack and pushing families further into a spiral of debt is not&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;