Commenting on the Department for Education’s supply of laptops
and other equipment to enable disadvantaged students to access
remote learning, Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the
National Education Union, said:
"It is not credible for or to claim
that their priority under Covid is to protect the very same
disadvantaged students they have so routinely let down. It is a
stain on the Government's record that they have failed
disadvantaged students so badly. The immense disruption in autumn
half term, with so many absent from school due to self-isolation
or close contact with those in their bubble who were having to
self-isolate, was a clear warning that the education secretary
needed to properly build the groundwork for a continuity and
equity of education for all students. But the warning went
unheeded, and in Gavin Williamson's recent announcements on
laptop and data roll-out it is abundantly clear he is still weeks
away from anything like an adequate response.
"Schools have been kept waiting for equipment that has been
promised to them throughout the pandemic, with last minute
delays, changes or retractions of the kit they need becoming an
alarmingly normalised response from the Department for Education.
It is surely a no-brainer that schools should be compensated for
having to plug the gaps, which are entirely due to governmental
sloth. Every child must have access to the equipment they need to
ensure they can learn safely from home. When will the government
take their responsibility towards these children seriously?"
