The Digital Poverty Alliance has announced a new initiative which will help underprivileged children get laptops for school and digital education.
The charity, which aims to end digital poverty in the UK by 2030, said that through HMRC’s Gift Aid scheme, the initiative works with schools across the UK to collect monthly donations to raise funding which is then granted back to the school, with the children of parents who can’t afford the technology given a laptop for the duration of their education.
The initiative, called Tech4Learning, acts as a Donation Management Service (DMS), working to ensure every pupil benefits, irrespective of whether a donation is made in their name to the programme.
As part of the DMS, schools will work with parents and donors to raise money which the Digital Poverty Alliance will use to purchase devices for students, as well as provide free training workshops for school programme administrators.
The Alliance says that increasingly, education in the UK requires access to a digital device for lessons, revision, homework and extended research, replacing the traditional class trip to the ICT suite.
This approach means that children need to have access to laptops, tablets or smartphones to access digital resources.
However, Ofcom found that around one in five children did not have consistent access to a suitable device for their online home-learning during the pandemic.
Further research from Pearson and the Centre for Economics and Business Research recently outlined found that the UK economy would grow by £8.7 billion from investment in technology in schools.
For every £1 invested, technology in schools could return up to £7.90, helping to provide devices, broadband improvement and teacher training.
“Students in the UK education system haven’t had an easy time over recent years, juggling a pandemic, an unstable economy, and political change, magnifying the challenges that digital exclusion causes within education,” said Elizabeth Anderson, chief executive, Digital Poverty Alliance. “Digital isn’t the future of education, it’s the now, and that requires access to a personal device to support online learning, homework and studying. Many of us take this for granted, but for millions, they are left at a huge disadvantage.”
Anderson continued: “The Tech4Learning scheme has been put in place to tackle the issue at source, working directly with schools to raise donations for laptops and distribute devices to those who need them most. With the help of schools and local communities, we can help provide children with a fair education, catalysed by the benefits that technology has to offer.”
