Nahanni Butte (Oct 13/06) - Students at Charles Yohin school in Nahanni Butte are able to check their e-mail a little easier than before thanks to 10 new refurbished computers.

"They were getting kind of slow," said Wayne Ingarfield, principal and a teacher at the school, describing the computers the students were using prior to the new additions.

But due to funding cuts, this program may not be helping other schools upgrade their technology in the NWT before next March.

The 10 IBM Pentium 4 computers were donated to the school by an organization called Computers for Schools.

Soumeya Movaffagh, the executive director of the Smart Community Society, said the organization does important work and provides training opportunities along with much needed technology.

"Every year we try to get kids in communities through schools, libraries and community centres -600 computers or more," said Movaffagh. The organization was funded under the Information and Highway Application Branch, a department that no longer exists.

People involved in the program have managed to secure some transitional funding, but aren't sure what the future will hold when the funding runs out next March.

The organization runs training programs out of Aurora College and correctional facilities in Yellowknife.

There are also youth employment initiatives using funding supplied to Computers for Schools, said Movaffagh.

Ingarfield said the technology available at the school is used by students to research, watch DVDs, use educational programs and software, and access the rest of the world via e-mail and Internet. In total, the school has 18 computers. Admitting the Internet is still slower than high speed versions because it is hooked to phone lines, he said computer literacy is a must for the 30 students who attend the school.

Movaffagh agrees.

"The schools nowadays all need computers for teaching," she said.