A massive Northern Tasmanian effort to help families with back to school costs will result in hundreds of students filling their bags with donated stationary.
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Up to $12,000 worth of school supplies filled more than 200 bags that will make their way to students in Dorset, Scottsdale, George Town, Beaconsfield and Launceston's northern suburbs.
But while community efforts such as this assist with the basics, the digital learning divide in Tasmania grows with less than half of Year 6 students having basic computer skills.
WorkVentures chief executive Caroline McDaid, who is calling for a national device bank, said many students did not have laptops at home, and schools do not or stop providing them.
She said digital exclusion is a very real problem in Australia.
"This is in part to students not having adequate access to digital devices, with only one in five having their ICT device supplied by their school."
Ms McDaid said company or government technology donated to a device bank could be redistributed to kids without it, which in turn could have an impact on educational grades.
"83 per cent of surveyed students who have access to a laptop out of school experienced improvement in their grades, and 97 per cent indicated that their new laptop supported them in completing their homework and assignments."
Labor MP Michelle O'Byrne said the cost of going back to school for families, especially large ones, was huge, and every donation assisted with the struggles.
"Uniforms, bags, shoes, and even if you can get second hand uniforms, lunchboxes, drink bottles, the costs add up," Ms O'Byrne said.
"We shouldn't have to do this sort of thing, but the rising cost of living just makes it so much harder."
