Computers for schools sparks debate

Educational experts have criticised predictions by Research Machines (RM) of a massive market for computers in UK primary schools as over-simplistic.

RM predicts that UK companies will see the market quadruple in size from £170m to £680m over the next three years. The company said the government's National Grid for Learning initiative had fuelled its record 25 per cent profit rise, announced last week.

But industry experts are warning the primary school market has limited resources and will not follow the desktop PC/server model which most big manufacturers are familiar with.

Stephen Heppel, analyst with Ultralab at Anglia Polytechnic University, said: "At the moment it's very hard to imagine a situation where schools could afford to provide a PC for every child. A Java tablet-based device is likely to be more suitable in the long term. The investment in school hardware may prove to be a short-term thing."

A spokeswoman for York City Council's education department agreed that "funding is likely to determine the choice of technology".

But a spokesman from ICL, which last week won a £12.5m deal to supply Internet and email terminals to schools in Moray, Scotland, said a centrally-controlled network was the best way to monitor childrens' access to the Internet.

The Department for Education and Employment said no decisions had been made about operating systems and technologies to be used in schools.