KIDS who don’t have access to laptops or have no space to work from home are able to go into school during the lockdown, Gavin Williamson has said today.
The Education Secretary said that kids who didn’t have access to digital devices are allowed to come in to learn in classrooms – alongside the kids of key workers.
He said they were described as “vulnerable” if they didn’t have access to a laptop, or had no space to study properly at their own home.
MPs blasted the “poor communication” coming from ministers in Government – and said they weren’t aware of the rule.
The news will mean thousands more parents won’t have to try and worry about how juggle home-schooling their kids while trying to work themselves.
Schools were shut across the country earlier this week as Boris Johnson announced a new England-wide lockdown.
One million laptops have been bought, and just over half of them have been dished out to schools, he added.
It came as the Education Sec confirmed today that kids won’t take exams as planned this summer – and teacher-predicted grades would be used for kids instead.
This afternoon Conservative chair of the Education Committee Robert Halfon (Harlow) raised concerns about the “digital divide” for kids who aren’t able to learn well at home.
He said: “I strongly welcome the Government’s laptop scheme but we know that there still will be, possibly, hundreds of thousands of people on the wrong side of the digital divide.
“Can (he) confirm that those students who just don’t have internet connection or computers at home will be able to go to school alongside children of critical workers?”
Referring to last year’s lockdown, Mr Williamson replied: “Children who didn’t have access to digital devices were able to access education in that school and that is the same standard and same guidance that we are issuing today as well.
“We’ll be doing everything that we can do to ensure that children are not left behind.”
