Welsh Government buy 35,000 more laptops for home schooling children

More than 35,000 additional laptops will be provided to learners over the next few weeks bringing the total provided by the Welsh Government since the start of the coronavirus pandemic to over 133,000.

The move follows a pledge by education Minister Kirsty Williams at the beginning of the pandemic that ‘no child or family would be left behind during this crisis’ and that ‘all children will have the opportunity to continue learning’.

A recent independent report has praised the Welsh Government’s efforts and said Wales had ‘led the way’ in providing IT and online learning to pupils at home throughout pandemic.

Usage of the Welsh Government’s online Hwb education platform has exploded since remote learning re-convened this term.

Hwb has seen a daily average of over 50 logins a second, providing its users with access to the nationally available Hwb digital services including email and online learning tools.

The platform itself is also recording record logins of over 337,000, with more than one million page views every day.

Through Hwb, the Welsh Government provides schools with a single point of access to a choice of leading online learning packages including Google for Education and the suite of Microsoft applications to support online learning, all in a safe and secure environment.