Victoria is putting robots in schools

The Victorian government will spend $1.6 million on a new grants program to provide secondary schools across the state with emerging technology.

The 'digi-tech start-up grants' program is intended to help support schools develop their digital technology programs and build STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) skills.

It runs alongside the state's new digital technologies curriculum, which all government and Catholic schools were required to implement at the beginning of this year.

The main focus of the curriculum is computational thinking, which aims to help students "develop problem solving skills when creating digital solutions". It will also see students learn various programming languages.

The new funding announced today will provide 150 secondary schools with two robots each, while grants will be provided to buy other equipment such as digital microscopes, laser cutters, 3D printers and virtual reality goggles.

“This funding will give more students the ability to learn hands-on with new technology and prepare them for the jobs of the future,” Education minister James Merlino said in a statement.

The initiative will also see Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria deliver professional development to teachers.