VIDEO CONFERENCE CHANGE THREATENS CANN RIVER STUDIES

Students in Far East Gippsland will be disadvantaged in their education if an existing video conferencing system is prematurely discontinued.

Gippsland MP, Peter Hall, is working to ensure that the students at Cann River P-12 College retain a good system. The Nationals' MP has called on the State Government to continue the current videoconferencing set-up until a replacement system is proved to work.

There are fears the existing system will be discontinued at the end of this year.

"Because of the small number of students it has, particularly in Victorian certificate of education (VCE) areas, the college uses videoconferencing to network some of its students with other students in the Far East Gippsland Cluster, to enable the delivery of some of the important programs, particularly those at VCE level," Mr Hall said.

"The Far East Gippsland Cluster operates on this particular system of videoconferencing but has been notified by the (Education) department that it is about to discontinue the system, and perhaps by the end of the year will no longer support the particular ISDN (H320) videoconferencing system."

Mr Hall said he understood that an IP-based videoconferencing system had recently been purchased by the far east cluster, which is in the process of testing and implementing it.

"But the (Cann River College) does not have the confidence that this system will perform to the same level as the current system and is unsure whether it will be online and operating sufficiently well to accommodate some of the student needs next year."

Mr Hall said it made sense that the Minister for Education and Training give a guarantee that the current ISDN (H320) videoconferencing system will be supported by the Department and remain in place until such time as the replacement system is proved, beyond doubt, to be adequate.

"It is not good enough to say another system is on the way, because the students and staff at Cann River need the system to work so they can undertake their studies. At VCE level in particular, a break of a couple of months could make a big difference.

"The Government needs to act on this now," Mr Hall added. "It's not hard, we just need to ensure the current system remains in place until we are sure any replacement works correctly."

Media contact: Peter Hall (03) 5174 7066