Support for school students needing home internet connection

With schools now closed, how are we helping school students who do not have broadband?

Spark, Skinny and Spark Foundation are in discussion with the Ministry of Education about how they can help get all school students set up with a broadband connection. Jump might play a role in this, as might other technologies like fibre and copper connectivity.

The MoE has indicated that around 50,000 homes with school students don’t have a broadband connection.  Rolling out at this scale (and pace) comes with many logistical challenges. The Spark Foundation is asking all schools requesting Jump to sit tight for now so they can coordinate a plan with MoE.

Families who don’t want to wait may sign up using our existing processes; for the most part this currently involves registering online using our Skinny Jump Order form. A modem will then be couriered to the family with a self-service user guide to activate the modem and set up a Skinny account.

However, we (DIAA) are not able to respond to schools requesting large volumes of modems; we hope this will be sorted by MoE before schools open again after Easter.

Author: Laurence Zwimpfer

I am committed to supporting the development of New Zealand as a digitally included nation, where everyone has equitable opportunities to benefit from the digital world. View all posts by Laurence Zwimpfer