The supermarket giant Asda has announced it will be donating 7,000 Dell laptops to schools in need across the UK as part of a new digital inclusion pledge.
Asda said that every store in the UK will be able to donate a minimum of 10 devices to local schools during the lockdown.
The chain said the laptops will help children who are at risk of falling behind on their education as a result of them not having the technology to take part in their online classes during the pandemic.
The supermarket has formed a partnership with the manufacturer Dell and is investing £2 million to deliver this pledge.
Every laptop comes with a tech bundle, which includes a mobile internet dongle with a data allowance of around 20GB from Asda’s network partner Vodafone and also, a headset. The laptops also come with a one-year warranty and technical support.
As much as 1.8 million children in the UK do not have access to a desktop, tablet or laptop at home, according to Ofcom.
These children come from primarily disadvantaged backgrounds and are at risk of falling behind further on their education.
The Government has said that it is fully committed toward providing devices to children in need. However, they have faced criticism over devices installed with malware and delays.
The Department of Education said on Tuesday, that it had delivered 801,524 laptops as part of its pledge to get over a million devices to colleges and schools during the pandemic.
Its calculations are based on the number of students entitled to free meals at school. Schools requiring devices for students have to place orders via the Get Help with Technology scheme.
Devices are available to the following:
- Disadvantaged children in the years between 3 and 11 whose face-to-face education has been disrupted.
- Disadvantaged children in any year group who have been advised to shield
- Disadvantaged teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18 at sixth-form colleges whose education has been disrupted.
The DfE has said that 300 more laptops would provide ‘top-ups’ to allocations and bring the total amount purchased to support remote education to 1.3 million.
The DfE said 300 more laptops would provide “top-ups” to allocations and bring the total number purchased to support remote learning to 1.3million.
Gavin Williamson, Education Secretary, tweeted out a message. He said: “It’s been an incredible team effort to secure this number of devices despite global demand and logistical challenges during the pandemic”.
However, a BBC investigation this week found that some of the laptops that have been given out in England contained Russian malware.
The DfE said it was aware of this and is urgently investigating the allegations.
Paul Whiteman from the school leaders’ union NAHT said government attempts to get devices to all students who need them were “still incomplete”.
He said: “The government needs to go beyond their boasts about the numbers of laptops delivered so far. Of more importance to pupils and schools, is the speed the government can meet the needs of the 1.8 million children in the UK that Ofcom estimates have no home access to a laptop, desktop or tablet. In our view, they have been miserably let down.”
Speaking on the pledge, Roger Burnley, CEO and President of Asda, said: “It’s clear that digital exclusion is an issue affecting many thousands of children who attend schools in communities that we serve. These children have been disproportionately affected by the lockdown and are at risk of falling further behind their peers. We want to do all we can to help break down the digital barriers so they can continue their education remotely.”
