London’s largest college group is calling on businesses and the community to raise a quarter of a million pounds to help disadvantaged students learn online.
Capital City College Group (CCCG) said that thousands of its students were unable to participate in online education due to lack of resources.
It says that two-thirds of its 29,000 students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and many only have shared access to computers at home. More than a quarter are having to access lessons and do coursework on their mobile phone while others have no technology at all.
The campaign, Laptops4Learners, aims to raise £250,000 to buy more equipment to enable students to study at home.
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In an Association of Colleges' survey published exclusively in Tes in July, more than half of colleges (56 per cent) reported that their existing and additional bursary funding from the Department for Education had not enabled them to purchase laptops and/or connectivity dongles to support all their disadvantaged learners.
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Earlier this summer, the government announced that colleges should use existing budgets to support learners in need of devices or other support, but could seek additional funds from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
The CCCG group has already provided more than £186,000 to help 577 of its learners purchase laptops since March and has helped over 3,500 to get more mobile data and better internet access.
However, the group found that around a third of its students (32 per cent) have to share a computer, laptop or tablet with their family and almost 10 per cent have no technology to access online lessons at all.
Roy O'Shaughnessy, chief executive of CCCG, said: “With the UK heading back into recession and unemployment rising because of the Covid-19 crisis, it is vital that our students do not miss out on their education.
“We’re proud of what we’ve achieved so far and we’re continuing to stretch every muscle to support our students, but we know that there are many more who need our help. And with even more disadvantaged Londoners expected to enrol with us in September, we know we will need many more computers to support their education.
“With your support, we can help more of our learners, so they learn effectively online and gain the skills and qualifications they need to take their next steps into higher education or their chosen career.”
