Disadvantaged children will get a further 300,000 laptops and tablets so they can study at home during Covid lockdown
Disadvantaged children are set to get a further 300,000 laptops and tablets so that they can study at home during the coronavirus lockdown.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson described how the Government is 'doing everything in our power' to support schools during the lockdown.
Mr Williamson said: 'I know just how difficult the past year has been for parents and teachers, now more so than ever.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson described how the Government is 'doing everything in their power' to support schools during the lockdown
'I want nothing more than for every child to be in the classroom with their friends and teachers, but with that not possible we are doing everything in our power to support schools with high-quality remote education.
'These additional devices, on top of the 100,000 delivered last week, add to the significant support we are making available to help schools deliver high-quality online learning, as we know they have been doing.'
The Department for Education has said it will also publish a remote education framework to support schools and colleges with delivering learning for pupils who are at home during the latest national lockdown.
The Department for Education has said it will also publish a remote education framework to support schools and colleges (file image)
How the Government's vaccine plan breaks down
PHASE 1 (FEB 15 TARGET)
CARE HOME RESIDENTS - 300,000
CARE HOME WORKERS - 500,000
AGE 80+ - 3,300,000
HEALTHCARE WORKERS - 2,400,000
SOCIAL CARE WORKERS - 1,400,000
AGE 75-79 - 2,300,000
AGE 70-74 - 3,200,000
CLINICALLY EXTREMELY VULNERABLE (UNDER 70) - 1,200,000
PHASE 2
65-69 2,900,000
AT-RISK UNDER 65 7,300,000
60-64 1,800,000
55-59 2,400,000
50-54 2,800,000
PHASE 3
REST OF ADULT POPULATION 21,000,000
It comes as desperate shift workers and teachers have come forward to say they would happily come day or night to get the coronavirus vaccine after Boris Johnson insisted there is no 'clamour' for appointments after 8pm.
Mr Johnson is facing growing pressure to launch round-the-clock vaccinations as ministers 'race against time' to get jabs in arms.
Labour has demanded the Government 'sorts out' a 24/7 operation despite No10's claims there is no demand for evening appointments.
Upset workers took to social media to blast the Prime Minister's claim.
One wrote: 'I work shifts. I'm awake when most of the country is asleep. So, happy to have my vaccine anytime.'
Another user, a teacher, said: 'If this would speed things up and I'd not be taking a vaccine from someone more vulnerable I'd happily go anytime of day or night.
'I'm a 60-year-old teacher working in school and scared for myself and my older vulnerable husband. Of course I'd go!'
The aim is for everyone over the age of 50 to be offered a Covid jab by the end of April.
But doubts have been raised about the target with numbers standing at around 2.7million as of yesterday, and there are also calls for frontline workers such as teachers and police officers to be pushed up the priority list.
Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick today said her officers should be 'properly recognised' in the prioritisation list for vaccines as she warned her colleagues are 'not immune to the virus'.
The latest ambitious timetable means vaccinating 32million Britons – six in ten adults – within 16 weeks. Two million jabs will have to be given every week in the 'greatest logistical challenge of our time'.