HP Inc has committed half a million dollars to a new program designed to help Australian students achieve digital literacy.
Revealing the HP Kids Fund, the hardware vendor’s Australian arm will commit $500,000 as part of the company’s global commitment of US$20 million toward technology, training and research and development funding towards better learning outcomes for 100 million people by 2025.
The Australian-level program will deliver grants of $10,000 to 50 schools to be directed towards the purchase of HP technology.
To be applicable for the funding, HP is encouraging principals and teacher at Australian primary and secondary schools to create short application videos demonstrating a need for a technology update.
As technology advances quickly, students will grow up and work in a vastly different technology landscape than what exists today, according to HP.
Rachael Williams, HP South Pacific manager for education and government said students from all backgrounds and economic circumstances deserved equal opportunity to access quality education.
“The future will be shaped by technology, and so it is critical that every Aussie student receives a solid foundation in digital literacy. These are skills they will use throughout their life,” she said.
HP said it wasn’t just encouraging schools to purchase laptops, instead hoping schools opted to go beyond standard devices and instead consider implementing VR, 3D printing, gamification and robotics innovations in the classroom.
The grants will be awarded to two-to-five schools per intake, and HP said it would work with selected schools to determine the HP technology best suited to them. Entries for the first intake of the HP Kids Fund are now open and close 5 February 2018.
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