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'Phones for all pupils’ to close the digital gap
United Kingdom Created: 29 May 2013
A council is considering giving children smartphones when they get to school to end the “digital divide” between rich and poor pupils.
A ban on 24,000 pupils using their smartphones in 62 primary and secondary schools in Aberdeen is to be lifted, with teachers instead encouraging their use as a learning tool.
But since it was deemed unfair to those who do not have them, the council is spending around £860,000 to ensure no one misses out by providing phones, or access to a phone or tablet computer.
David Leng, the city’s head of schools, said: “Our view on smartphones is that rather than being a problem we need to protect people from they could actually be an advantage. We don’t want to get into a situation where we are trying to ban things that you just can’t ban anyway, and not harnessing the powerful possibilities of the smartphones.
“There have been some concerns in the past that when we do these things we are creating a digital divide between those who have and those who don’t. We will ensure that everyone has access to devices and they will always be supervised. We will support and supply to those who do not have their own.”
He said that no pupil would be able to access the internet in class unsupervised, and that access was filtered. Pupils would not be allowed to make phone calls.
The council is consulting on school closures and mergers and the plan has been criticised by those who say schools need investment for building work and basic resources.
Jennifer Stewart, Aberdeen city council’s Lib Dem education spokesman, said: “We’re talking about a huge amount of money, considering we’ve got basic bread and butter issues that need to be resolved. [Some] schools have poor toilet facilities, another is excellent in terms of performance, but the buildings aren’t great.”
She added: “There’s always a place for technology, but I think it would make sense to address these other issues first.”
Parents took to social networking sites to criticise the plan. Charlene McConnachie wrote: “This is another waste of tax payers money from a council who already don’t have enough money to do things that Aberdeen actually need.”
Kelsey Stewart posted: “There are schools being shut down but they are choosing to spend money on this. Makes a lot of sense.”
By Nick Britten. The Daily Telegraph
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Source: Agnes Ingvarsdottir.

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