Sheffield homeschoolers get helping hand with laptops

Sheffield City Council says it is going to provide thousands more laptops to kids who do not have one at home, for online learning.

£1.5million is being spent on the project, which will see 1,000 pre-owned computers handed out to start with, followed by funding for a further 5,000.

The council says the government has failed to put the necessary support in place for children that need them for their studies.

Councillor Bob Johnson, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said:

“Over the past year, the pandemic has particularly impacted on our young people. After the Government announced that schools were to be closed for most children, it has left many of our young people without access to online learning.

“This is increasing the inequalities in education, with some children having the technology to work from home whilst some simply do not have devices or the internet connections that are needed.

“As a council we cannot stand by and let this happen, we owe it to these children to do everything we can to get them the support they need to make online learning work as effectively as we can whilst schools remain closed. In this time of crisis, it is crucial that we do everything in our power to make sure we are not leaving our children behind.

“We want to provide enough devices so we can make sure that no child is left without and with our support, we will provide 6,000 laptops to those who need them. This will enable more children to learn at home, reducing the number of children that are in school which will help to reduce the transmission of the virus.”

• sheffield
• laptops
• homeschooling