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DeliciousSchools minister considering free laptops
Wednesday, July 02, 2008The poorest million families in England could receive a free laptop, the minister revealed.
A taskforce consisting of public and private bodies recommended this move when presenting advice to the schools minister Jim Knight. Commissioned in 2007 to consider how to end the digital divide, they said basic laptops could help deprived children access online school learning resources to do their homework.
Knight said he will now consider the taskforce's advice, discuss it with other government departments and will make a full announcement on it in the autumn.
Membership of the taskforce included headteachers and school governors; representatives from IT companies, including BT, Microsoft, IBM, RM and Cisco; as well as Becta; and the E-learning Foundation.
If they've all got Windows on them,it will be a complete waste of time
sean - bristol
I'm fully in favour of given children in deprived areas of the country the resources they need to improve their education and academic levels.
I believe A Lap Top Computer Loan / Library system operated within the Schools would be more appropriate for a vast number of reasons including :
Schools are in a better position to identify the young people who would benefit most from this support.
Computers could be reallocated to benefit more children over a longer period of time and avoids individuals in the poorest families from selling of the computer to raise household cash funds for other purposes.
Frank - Manchester
My son is offered a free laptop but we are ask to pay a donation to charity. The cost is £5.00 a month, so 'How do the deprived areas benefit?'
surbjeet - birmingham