Parents all over the country are battling the growing costs of sending their children back to school this week.
Many schools now require students to arrive in class with a laptop, iPad or other expensive digital device to help their learning.
The latest equipment is proving difficult for some parents to afford but is worth the investment according to one expert.
Schools should be doing everything they can to help students adapt to an increasingly digital world, said education expert Noeline Wright, from Waikato University, on TV ONE's Breakfast this morning.
"It's just looking at what kind of learning tools are going to help them become 21st century digital citizens," said Wright.
"That's what the job of an educator is to do, to make sure that students are equipped for their futures, not our present."
And with digital devices now able to perform multiple functions, including storing e-books, there is the added benefit of students having less weight to carry in their bags, said Wright.
"You can imagine students taking that device to school instead of a really large backpack, which is really bad for their posture."
Education Minister Hekia Parata told Breakfast that it is up to each school's board to assist parents struggling with providing the requirements.
Parata said the Government's decile funding scheme recognises the socio-economic differences of communities and each school has the ability to decide how to best equip students with the learning tools they need.
"We have over 2000 schools and not all schools are the same. And that's why they have a board made up of their community who get to make those decisions that fit the circumstances of their student population and their school community."
Parata said the Government has upgraded the school network and invested $1.5b into ultra-fast broadband.
"We expect that 99.9% of students throughout NZ will all be able to connect to that by 2013."
Both Wright and Parata said they would like to see schools develop ways of sharing devices and making them available to all students, in a similar way to how books are available through libraries.
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