DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Awapuni School pupil AJ Heihei works on one of the school’s new laptops, which were donated by Powerco.
Pupils at a Palmerston North school have been given a boost to their learning after a donation of computers.
Energy company Powerco donated 300 laptops to lower-decile schools across its network in the lower North Island after a technology upgrade.
Awapuni School in Palmerston North was one of its recipients, getting 20 computers, which principal Matt Howard said was fantastic.
“Beforehand we had very few devices through the school and that was going to be one of next year’s big focuses, building digital focus in school.”
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Palmerston North’s Cloverlea School and Te Kura o Wairau also received laptops.
Howard said it allowed the pupils to work with computer programmes, watch online resources and next year the school would look to work with coding.
It gave children access to technology who otherwise may not have been able to.
“We can see the difference in the haves and have-nots.”
The computers are in the school’s two senior classes and the school has applied for funding for more computers.
DAVID UNWIN/Stuff
Awapuni School pupils put their newly donated computers to good use.
There were only a handful of devices in the class before, but Howard hoped to eventually have one device per pupil in the senior class.
“We were making do with what we had and that’s cool, but it gives us a leg up, somewhere to start.”
Powerco chief information officer Brigitte Colombo said the company believed in supporting and giving back to communities, and it was also a sustainable way of extending the laptops’ life.
“We selected lower-decile schools in each region we operate in.
“It was important for us to support schools and their communities that had the greatest need for device availability for homeschooling during lockdowns.”
Powerco’s information services team cleaned and prepared the laptops for the children to use.
Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/300471175/donated-computers-gives-school-a-leg-up