By Tim Ferguson, 4 January 2008 13:08
NEWS
All of England and Wales' six million school children could have home broadband access under plans being drawn up by the government to improve education standards.
A Department for Children, Schools and Family (DCSF) spokesman confirmed to silicon.com the government is aiming to make the provision of home IT as much a part of school as uniform or sports kit.
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More than one million children do not have access to a computer at home, according to the DCSF.
The DCSF said it is in talks with BT, Microsoft and RM, among others, to create partnerships to bring these plans to fruition. The department is also putting pressure on suppliers to bring down the price of IT equipment to close the gap between children from different financial backgrounds.
The initiative, which is being led by schools minister Jim Knight, also includes parents having access to online updates of their children's performance and behaviour. This is planned for secondary schools in 2009 with primary schools to follow a year later.
Knight, in an interview with The Guardian, said: "We need to get to a point where in the same way when they start school the expectation is you've [the parent] got to find a school uniform, provide them with something to write with and probably these days a calculator, and in secondary school some sports gear - well, you add to that some IT. Obviously you need to make that affordable, you need to make that universal otherwise you just advantage those who can afford it."
The government's Home Access Task Force is due to publish a report in April.
Comments
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1. anonymous
The basic flaw in this argument is the presumption that the use of IT and the Internet improves academic attainment. I believe the opposite.
The experience of my family of two bright children may be illustrative. The academic career of my son has been almost destroyed by his addiction to Internet games. My daughter has not succumbed to this problem, and got good GCSE grades last Summer. But even her use of the Internet is 99% social and games-related.
If middle-class kids are doing well relative to poor kids in the UK, it's not because of their access to broadband at home. It's due to lots of other factors that come with being middle class.
And let's not forget that while the UK government has spent the past 10 years installing computers and Internet in schools, the UK has been slipping down the international league of academic performance by schoolchildren.
Tony Blair had no idea about IT because he couldn't and didn't want to use a computer himself. Now that we have more IT-experienced ministers in power, please let's ditch this crazy belief in the attainment-boosting power of computers.
2. David Fletcher
Why do the likes of Canonical never get a mention in the list of consultants, whereas Microsoft seems to always get a mention in the list of consultants?
If we want to make IT affordable for all, it's obvious that costs need to be reduced. Therefore the use of free software is sensible. Just ask Google and Amazon what they run!
And please, PLEASE stop calling then "kids". They are students. Kids are NOT juvenile human beings - they are juvenile goats.
3. anonymous
And what about the support costs? If ever there was a case for a thin client this is it. This initiative was probably dreamt up by the same people that devised Digital switchover, another ill thought out scheme.
4. Kimberleigh Foster
Lets not get to excited, it's just another bright idea that will fade away like all the other ideas the government have had.
The only one who would benefit from the idea is Bill 'I got billions' Gates.
Anyway this county is so far behind everyone else that this idea will not even see daylight until our children have their own children.....in my opinion
5. Chris Stevens
Is this yet more Credit Card Government?
I wonder which large organisations stand to gain by setting up a large PFI type structure to ensure that kids get access to home computing? "Ah yes Mr Brown, we'll give the little nippers access... by the way make sure they use our software and our telephone lines...and oh yes that will be £300 per child per year... kerrr Ching!"