Free internet for kids in Suffolk and Oldham
A declaration that internet access should be made available to every home in the UK was made back in September by Gordon Brown. As part of this new government scheme to connect everyone in the country the first two sites to benefit have now been announced. Free access to the internet and computers in their homes will be given to Oldham and Suffolk schoolchildren.
An announcement made by Jim Knight, the schools minister that starting in February next year the benefits from “home access” pilots will be made available to the children in these two areas. As many as 20 000 seven to eighteen-year-olds that live in families with low-incomes will be able to get online with the provision of the financial support they need.
Internet access for a year, computers, software and three years of technical support are the areas in which this money will be spent. The PM said that this was all part of a nationwide scheme and vowed that to get households of low-income families connected to the internet vouchers worth up to £700 would be given out. The new deal would provide £100 to £700 of means tested vouchers to as many as 1.4 million households which could be used towards things like computers, broadband connections and technical support.
“The bottom line is that having home access to the internet or a computer is no longer an optional extra for school work – it is fast becoming essential,” said Minister Knight.
He also added “Schools are revolutionising how they educate, faster than many families realise. There is no substitute for good classroom teaching, but day-to-day school work is increasingly web- and computer-based – and it is clear that students get better results where technology is used effectively at home to study, research and communicate.”
Tags: online, computers software, school work, web, work, free internet, internet access
