IT Minister Steven Joyce and Education Minister Anne Tolley released details yesterday, of the first schools to be connected by Chorus, one of the Crown's four partners for the introduction of ultrafast broadband.
The Dunedin schools are just 14 of 221 urban schools nationwide which will receive ultrafast broadband-enabling fibre by July 2012 - a move which will benefit about 100,000 pupils.
Mr Joyce said the aim, during the next five years, was to have 97% of schools with ultrafast fibre enabling speeds of 100mbps or more.
"The remaining 3% of schools, which are in the most remote locations, will receive a high speed wireless or satellite connection. No schools will miss out," he said.
Education Minister Anne Tolley said ultrafast broadband would transform New Zealand's education system, making it one of the most "wired" in the world.
"Fewer than 200 New Zealand schools have bandwidth capable of the ultrafast broadband speeds that are essential for applications such as high definition, two-way video conferencing.
Otago Primary Principals' Association president Bernadette Newlands said it was difficult to know if the new ultrafast broadband would make a significant difference to education in Dunedin schools, until schools received it.
"We feel we already have great facilities in terms of internet access and broadband.
"It works well for what we need it for. But having ultrafast broadband may open up other educational opportunities we haven't thought of. When we do get to use it, we might wonder how we ever got on without it."
