Yass Highschool receives technology boost from Industry

In a cross-industry initiative to support rural and regional Indigenous programs and technology enablement for Indigenous students, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is leading a consortium of partners to provide much needed equipment for rural and regional communities. In this tranche of technology donation to Yass Highschool in rural NSW, the consortium partners include DXC Technology, Telstra, and local Supply Nation-certified Indigenous technology and logistics company, Willyama Services.

Yass Highschool Principal, Linda Langton, said, “We are extremely grateful to be receiving these 30 reconditioned laptops. With COVID19, our existing supply of devices has been diminished to support schooling from home.” 

As with many rural communities, Yass High has an above average number of Indigenous children in its student base. School Indigenous Program Co-ordinator, Kate Vale was delighted, “This will help to replenish our fleet and transition us back, to have sufficient machines in the school, and also available for remote students, to continue their education programs.”

CBA representative, Yass CBA Manager Ryan Cassidy informed us, “CBA has been running this initiative for a couple of years now, and we are delighted that DXC and others have jumped in this year to help us support Indigenous kids and intuitions across Australia.”

The PCs were couriered to Yass High by Willyama Services from DXC offices in Sydney, using local Indigenous staff from the Yass region. Aboriginal owner and operator Kieran Hynes said, “We’ve been close partners with DXC for years, and social impact activities are an important part of our ethos. When DXC asked us to come on board we were only too pleased.” He elaborated, “Our business is not all about money. It’s about self-determination for all Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. Initiatives like this help spread that message.”

Stuart Meadley and Simon O’Toole represented DXC’s Social Impact Practice, and their new Indigenous Program. “We’ve spent a year developing our Program and have a draft Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) “Our core themes for our first (Reflect) RAP are enabling Indingous businesses, Education and career pathways, DXC Culture Diversity and Inclusion and, Community Engagement Initiatives,” said Program Lead, Stuart. “We are keen to get involved in the community now, rather than waiting for our draft to be finalised.” 

Simon, a virtual reality software engineer, and Indigenous Program advisor at DXC added, “It’s important to me, as an Aboriginal man, and to our program, to be able to use technology to empower and enable our kids. I want them to be excited about the possibilities of technology, and to see that a career in ICT can be a great option for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids. It can help them to study while still being involved in traditional community activities.”

One local Aboriginal student , who was pleased to see the new technology coming into the school programs, said, “The computers we have are pretty old now, and it’s great to be getting some newer equipment to use.”

CommBank, DXC and others in the consortium will be distributing equipment around Australia over the next month, to support local and remote communities. Many of communities are still self-isolating, and have difficulty in maintaining connection and communications with their people and the outside world.