''Curriculum, schools, teachers and educational systems now tend to assume that all children and young people have access to resources such as computers and the internet, but our analysis and experience working with disadvantaged families shows this is clearly not the case,'' its submission said.

The submission said Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that 85 per cent of children under 14 who used the internet at home did so for educational purposes, highlighting the importance placed on technology outside school.

The charity's head of research and advocacy, Anne Hampshire, said digital literacy was vital to education but it could not just be assumed all students had access to the same level of technology.

She said many families struggled to put food on the table so a computer was a luxury many could not afford.

Mele Tuliakiono, a mother of three, knows about the problems of not having a computer or internet access at home.