Australian government has started with a new AUS$40 million education initiative that aims to improve the computer literacy of teachers and ensure they can keep up with their students.
On 18th February 2010, Julia Gillard, Education Minister announced that half of the money from the mentioned amount, would be utilised to develop a self- assessment tool for schools to look at where they needed training in ICT. While the remaining portion will be used to set up an ICT Innovation Fund to provide grants for ICT projects.
It was explained by Gillard that the funding can be applied for by universities, state and territory education departments, businesses and the private education sector from April 2010 for projects to improve the capabilities of pre-service and in-service teachers. She also specified that the government had already rolled out 220,000 computers in schools ahead of the program’s 2012 deadline.
