All of the UK's six million children could have home broadband access under plans being drawn up by the government to improve education standards.
A Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) spokesman confirmed to silicon.com that the government is aiming to make the provision of home IT as much a part of school as a uniform or sports kit.
More than one million children in the UK do not have access to a computer at home, according to the DCSF.
The DCSF said it is in talks with BT, Microsoft and RM, among others, to create partnerships to bring these plans to fruition. The department is also putting pressure on suppliers to bring down the price of IT equipment to close the gap between children from different financial backgrounds.
The initiative, which is being led by schools minister Jim Knight, also includes parents having access to online updates of their children's performance and behaviour. This is planned for secondary schools in 2009 with primary schools to follow a year later.
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Knight, in an interview with The Guardian, said: "We need to get to a point where — in the same way when they start school the expectation is you've [the parent] got to find a school uniform, provide them with something to write with and probably these days a calculator, and in secondary school some sports gear — well, you add to that some IT. Obviously you need to make that affordable; you need to make that universal, otherwise you just advantage those who can afford it."
The government's Home Access Taskforce is due to publish a report in April.
Talkback
The problem this country's children face is not lack of computers/internet. It is the disdain and contempt with which they regard their environment and themselves. No respect for anything or anyone - the government needs to tackle this social indifference before anything else. Youth have a sense of entitlement to everything, without having earned it at all - and it is our own fault for letting them get away with so much, making excuses for them instead of forcing them to take ownership of their own actions and thereby learn some discipline and responsibility. The age at which children are derailing themselves is getting lower and lower with each passing year - it is a scary thought that these children are the future generation.
I fully concurr with this opinion. I have travelled extensively with my work and the one thing that is very evident is the value put on education and family in so called less economically developed countries.
Further more, people coming here from these countries and the Tiger Economies from the East are shocked by the lack of appreciation for a (free) education that is so prevalent here and the direspectful and selfish behaviour of our younger generation.
However, the seeds of this problem were laid decades ago by our goverments with their constant social tinkering and over enthusiastic embracing of our inward looking capitalist model to manage our society, perhaps by following the American precedent too much.
I believe we have a very serious moral dilemma now since we have abandonned the moral imperative which, for so long, underpinned our country.
I think this is a key issue, Not every child has the ability to take GCSE's or A Levels, this doesn't mean there not inteligent or talented, that form of education just isn't for them.
If this is the case the kids in question would benefit more from specialized vocational areas such as Networking, Web design Mechanics and other subjects like this, In my Opinion these are more valuable to future development than 80% of A level students who acheive qualifications that are completely irelevant.
The problem is the vocational route is offered to late when kids are either so used to playing up in school or not even attending at all, parents should with help of teachers decide which route is beter at say 13 or 14, otherwise these students are left taking lessons they struggle in and will act out against it.
Take myself for example, i had no interest in school and rarely attended, i came out with 5 c's and a B which i will never use before embarking on practical IT, and i Stress Practical. I have no IT Gcse as the teaching was so poor it was unreal and that IT Gcse's and A levels are irrelevant to the work place. I only wish i was offered the opportunity to focus on Practical IT earlier.
The afford ability of computers shouldn't be an issue now - decent secondhand machines that can work fine for Internet connections can be picked up really cheaply. What is essential is that Broadband Providers offer reliable fast connections. Even BT's <a href="http://www.bt.com/broadband/option1">cheapest broadband</a> connections starts at £9 a month quickly rising to £18. This is a dent in the wallets of less privileged families
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and to think all we got was milk....
and i agree its about ability and not academics, i know some great programmers who have no academic qualifications