mo4ch:>'Digital poverty' in schools where few have laptops | Mo4ch News

By Sean CoughlanBBC News family and education correspondent 24 April 2020 Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage captionNot all families have laptops and broadband to help their children keep learning at home"In our schools, 60% to 70% of children wouldn't have laptops," says Wayne Norrie, head of an academy trust with schools in disadvantaged areas.With schools closed and pupils studying online at home, he says, it is important to recognise the social gap in access to technology."Coronavirus has revealed the scale of the digital divide," he says.The Department for Education in England has promised laptops will be lent to some poorer teenagers.Year 10 pupils without access to a computer, and those with social workers, will be able to apply soon, with the first laptops promised in the next couple of weeks. Mr Norrie, chief executive of Greenwood Academies Trust, with 37 schools in the Midlands and east of England, says many families rely on a single mobile phone for an i…