Disabled and poorest students hit hardest
CAMPAIGNERS have highlighted a digital divide among poorer and disabled students who cannot afford the computer hardware needed for online learning.
The Government has provided laptops and other devices to disadvantaged school pupils in England – but older learners say they feel ignored.
Universities UK said a number of institutions had stepped in, spending up to £1million each to ensure students had access to the essentials.
It added: “Although the Government has put measures in place to help school pupils facing digital poverty, so far universities, students and their families have been left to cover these costs.”
Disabled and poorer students are among the worst affected, education bosses revealed.
Martin McLean, higher education policy adviser at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “Even in normal times, half
of deaf students don’t receive the support they’re entitled to.
“During the pandemic, extra challenges like a lack of subtitles, inaccessible seminars and a widespread lack of deaf awareness are putting them at a real disadvantage.” University and College Union general secretary Jo
Grady said: “Staff have worked tirelessly during the pandemic to support students. Yet the Government has failed to match their commitment by providing students with the equipment they need, and this has hit those from the least affluent backgrounds.
“It is frankly shameful that we
are almost a year on from the first lockdown and ministers haven’t sorted this mess.”
The Government announced an extra £50million for university students last week, boosting total support for this academic year to £70million. It will help make online teaching accessible.A
National Union of Students poll last year found one in four were unable to access online learning.
Spokeswoman Hillary GyebiAbabio said: “Digital poverty remains a huge barrier for many students. Investment is needed to ensure that all students can complete their studies.”
A PARAMEDIC who raped a patient in her home and thought his uniform made him “untouchable” in law has been jailed for 21 years.
Andrew Wheeler also sexually assaulted in his ambulance a woman suffering an extreme allergic reaction.
He had raped her the previous year, when she was not a patient.
Jailing him, Judge Matthew Lowe also made Wheeler the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and said he would never again be a paramedic or have a similar role.
He said the 46-year-old showed an “arrogance and a belief that he was untouchable and protected, as he saw it, by his paramedic’s uniform”.
Control
Judge Lowe added there was “not a shred of remorse. He’s a manipulative sexual predator, willing to exploit for his own gratification the vulnerabilities of three separate (victims)”.
Wheeler, of Warboys, Cambs, was convicted of rape and sexual assault following a trial at Peterborough Crown Court.
He was also found guilty of two counts of sexual assault of a girl under 13 who was not a patient.
The court had heard that he was a solo paramedic in a rapid response car when he was called to help a drunk woman who had collapsed at a friend’s house.
Wheeler told two other paramedics who arrived by ambulance that they could leave as he had the matter under control.
He then drove the woman to her
house where he raped and sexually assaulted her.
Noel Casey, prosecuting, said the woman was “unable to properly respond or even resist what he did to her, and he did these things while she was alone in her own home”.
He added: “There was a breach of trust.”
The woman said in a statement to the court: “I have no faith in the NHS and I’ve avoided seeing a paramedic and attending the hospital just because of what happened.”
She said she has flashbacks, adding: “I couldn’t handle dealing with life. I became a recluse.”
Wheeler also sexually assaulted a patient in the back of his ambulance.
Mr Casey said: “She was suffering from anaphylaxis, she was unable to breathe, she was therefore unable to properly respond or even resist.
“It was also a gross breach of trust, the defendant being the treating ambulance technician on the day.” gross