PARENTS of children at Duval High School will ask education officials to “please explain” why their school remains unconnected to the NBN.
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They are concerned that while NBN has been rolled out to PLC Armidale, less than 100 metres away, Duval can’t connect to the service, despite a two-year-old government promise.
Duval High School P&C president Rachael Sowden said yesterday: “Our P&C believes that access to the technology provided by the NBN will help close the achievement gap that is often seen in rural and remote schools.”
The issue came to a head earlier this week after the NSW government admitted no state schools were connected to the NBN.
That was despite a pledge by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2011 that Duval High and other public schools in Armidale, would be among the first to be connected to the NBN.
A spokesman for the NSW education department said no state school was connected to the NBN because its current fibre optic network offered a better service.
But he said the department was weighing up the pros and cons of both services and could switch to the NBN if it deemed it would provide greater benefits to students and staff’.
Duval’s P&C has organised a public meeting about the NBN and the school’s current service on May 15.
Department officials will address parents’ concerns along with Alun Davies, head of the NBN Work Group for New England.
He said yesterday public schools in Armidale could be connected to the NBN “at the drop of a hat”, along with private schools PLC and NEGS.
“The NBN allows schools to take part in virtual reality shows and superior video conferencing with schools around the world,” Mr Davies said.
A concern with the department’s fibre optic network was its firewall which caused difficulties with services such as virtual reality shows.
PLC’s director of development Shona Eichorn said its NBN facility was working well and allowed students to take part in virtual tours, rather than having to go to far-away locations.
“For example, there was the science and engineering challenge - Mars Yard 2020 project, which PLC linked up with the Powerhouse Museum; our Year 6’s involvement with the ABC Splash program and the biology activity with the Museum of Human Disease; to name but a few,” she said.
The meeting at Duval starts at 6.15pm in the staff common room.
