8,000 school laptops to help end ‘digital divide’

Home learning boost for pupils, but some say ‘too little too late’

More than 8,000 laptops and tablets are being distributed to help disadvantaged schoolchildren learn at home.

Fife has been given the biggest allocation – 4,139 – from the 25,000 Chromebooks bought by the Scottish Government during lockdown to promote digital inclusion among children and young people.

A total of 1,111 Chromebooks have gone to Angus for distribution to pupils who need them.

Both Dundee City Council and Perth and Kinross Council chose to buy their own devices with government grants, and have purchased 2,000 and 1,000 respectively.

The government announced in May had ordered the Chromebooks and it came under fire for failing to distribute them while schools were closed and children were learning at home.

One Fife councillor described the allocation – with 20,000 having left the government’s hands by mid-August –as “too little too late”.

During lockdown, concerns emerged about a digital divide, as many families lacked IT devices or connectivity for children to complete online assignments issued by schools.

Although schools reopened fully in August, pupils could miss out on more class time if they have to self-isolate or if there is another lockdown.

Fife Conservatives education spokeswoman Councillor Kathleen Leslie welcomed the Fife allocation but said: “It is too little too late.

“The council advised me in July that of the 53,000 pupils in school in Fife, around 5,000 to 6,000 of them had limited access to devices for learning.

“Parents I spoke to told me of having to share one laptop for three or more children or worse still, having to use a smartphone to attempt to connect to home learning.

“Those pupils from deprived backgrounds, as is often the case, were the most disadvantaged.

“If the Scottish Government is serious about closing the attainment gap then they should have been ensuring that local authorities such as Fife were provided with the tools to get all pupils connected from the earliest possible date.”

Liberal Democrat education spokesman for the region Councillor James Calder said: “There are questions as to why this has been delayed so much this year.”

Instead of accepting the government’s Chromebooks, Dundee City Council applied for a grant for laptop equipment for pupils and received almost £800,000.

Perth and Kinross Council also secured what it said was the maximum grant available to prevent pupils being digitally disadvantaged.

The Scottish Government said every council which wanted the devices received a share and those that did not were given funding to buy their own.

Fife and Angus councils did not respond to requests for comment.

The Dancing Tree sculpture, one of two specially-commissioned artworks by Charlie Poulsen, has been unveiled at the launch of a new centre for the arts and crafts at Marchmont House in the Scottish Borders. Artists and makers are now moving into the £1 million suite of workshops and studios which have been extensively refurbished.