School life is a fundamental part of growing up.
Connecting with friends, learning new things and having different experiences all count towards the development of a young child’s path to a successful adulthood.
And reliable Internet access is at the heart of all of these contributors.
Without it, children miss out on learning and potentially a sense of belonging – especially when they’re not able to stay in touch with friends and teachers.
Overall, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed the scale of the digital divide within the education sector.
An Ofcom report from 2020 estimates between 1.m and 1.8m children in the UK do not have access to a laptop, mobile or tablet at home.
Gigabit-capable full fibre Internet access is a game-changing technology for schools and communities.
It means educational institutions can receive more value for less money – meaning they are able to allocate more funds to helping those pupils in digital poverty.
With the growing popularity of online learning tools and interactive digital textbooks, gigabit Internet allows teachers to download the largest of learning resources within a matter of seconds.
Furthermore, complex tasks like migrating to the cloud as an administrative platform for file management and data storage services become seamless, ultrafast and highly responsive.
In schools with gigabit Internet, pupils now have equal opportunity to learn, have fun and create memories in this digital-age.
And schools that have invested into pure fibre gigabit Internet enjoy 20 times faster connectivity than the average UK households (FTTC).
Gigabit Internet speeds are considered the gold standard for Internet users – as they can support an unlimited number of users and devices.
Moving forwards, those educational institutions that are at the forefront of the digital transformation will be more versatile to online learning, have safer digital storage and enjoy the enablement of advanced learning concepts such as AR and VR.
To find out more on how Gigabit Networks are helping to bridge the digital divide in schools, click here to see information about our partnership with Internet4Schools.
To speak to one of our team about transforming the digital performance of your school, simply fill out the form on this page and we will get back to you shortly.