Plan for high speed Internet access for British students

Jim Knight, the British minister of schools, is working with major British IT firms and parents to develop a plan to make sure every student in England has high speed Internet access, in part by requiring parents to provide it. Currently, there are more than one million children in England without home computer access.

Knight said that they are working with the IT companies to try and work out a deal to lower the cost of high speed Internet equipment if the access for over six million children becomes a requirement.  “Knight said there were ‘some crunchy negotiations ahead’ with the big firms but said the government could in effect procure millions of new customers for them.” He said he is trying to make high speed Internet access as regular for students as a pencil and piece of paper, and a vital part of education.

“The initiative is part of a major push which could also see the parents of every secondary school student given access to continuous online updates on their child's lessons, performance and behavior as early as next year.”

In addition to the exponential educational benefits for the students, the parents would be given access to learning tools and progress reports to assist in their child’s learning. The compilation of weekly reports for parents is worrying to some in the teacher’s union because of a possible increase in work, yet the benefits that come from closer contact and communications with the parents makes the progress report a real possibility. But perhaps most importantly, making high speed Internet access available to all students will start to significantly narrow the digital divide.

Plan to give every child Internet access at home (Guardian Unlimited)