Principals’ laptops delivered well ahead of time

Education Minister Trevor Mallard today announced the early completion of a project aimed at supplying laptops to every school principal in New Zealand.

“All of New Zealand’s 2700-plus school principals who wanted a laptop should by now have received one. The project has been completed a year and a half earlier than originally planned, which is fantastic news for schools,” Trevor Mallard said.

The laptop project was set up under a 2001 budget initiative.

“This project was initially to be implemented over a four-year period. However with the co-operation and support of the laptop suppliers Apple and Toshiba, high quality machines have been able to be supplied at a reasonable cost. This has enabled the project to be implemented over 2 1/2 years.

“Laptops are an extremely useful tool for principals who as school managers are required to carry out a number of administrative tasks.

“School principals are also using their laptops to access information they need relating to school property, staffing, curriculum, regulations and entitlements through another project called Leadspace.

“This is a web-based portal introduced by the Ministry of Education to enable principals to have easy access to all the information they need to effectively manage their school.

“We recognise that well-informed, and effective leadership of schools is critical to the success of students, and the laptop programme has helped contribute to this,” Trevor Mallard said.

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