UK / Digital Divide / A third of poorest pupils ‘without internet at home’

More than a third of the poorest children do not have the internet at home and a similar number do not have a computer, official figures suggest.

A new breakdown of Office of National Statistics (ONS) data also showed that children from the wealthiest homes all had internet and computer access.

Campaigners say this ‘digital divide’ can harm poor pupils’ education.

Valerie Thompson of the E-Learning Foundation says children without home internet “lose out big time”.

She said, at the most basic level, lack of a home internet connection or a computer could mean that children struggled to research homework or complete coursework and were unable to access school websites which allow pupils to submit work digitally and receive feedback from teachers.

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via BBC News – A third of poorest pupils ‘without internet at home’.