MELBOURNE (AAP)

Popular internet website YouTube will be banned from computers in Victoria's 1,600 public schools in a bid to clamp down on bullying.Education Services Minister Jacinta Allan said the move would also ensure students were using school computers to access "age-appropriate material relevant to the curriculum and their learning needs"."All students have the right to learn in a safe and supportive learning environment - this includes making students' experience of the virtual world of learning as safe and productive as possible," Ms Allan said.

She said the schools, and their internet service providers, already filtered the websites that were available to students and YouTube would be added to a list of blocked sites.It comes after a video featuring a degrading attack on a teenage girl filmed by teenage students in Werribee, was uploaded to the popular film sharing site last year."The Bracks government has never tolerated bullying in schools and this zero tolerance approach extends to the online world," Ms Allan said. (01/03/2007 09:52:49 AM)