Supermarket donates laptops to Eastbourne schools

Asda has teamed up with Dell to provide 20 laptops to schools in the town in order to support children who do not have the technology to take part in online learning.

Each store can donate at least 10 laptops to a school in need in their local community.

Each laptop comes with a tech bundle that includes a headset and a mobile internet dongle with a data allowance of 20gb from Vodafone.

The dongle and data allowance has been funded by a £500,000 contribution from the retailer’s charity arm, The Asda Foundation.

According to Ofcom, around 9 per cent of children in the UK, between 1.1 million and 1.8 million, do not have access to a laptop, desktop or tablet at home.

Roger Burlney, CEO and president of Asda, said, “It’s clear that digital exclusion is an issue affecting many thousands of children who attend schools in communities that we serve.

“These children have been disproportionately affected by the lockdown and are at risk of falling further behind their peers.

“We want to do all we can to help break down the digital barriers so they can continue their education remotely.”

Senior vice president and general manager for Dell Technologies in the UK Dayne Turbitt added, “Digital exclusion is a growing global and societal issue, which is significantly impacting the UK as a result of the most recent national lockdown.

“We want to help support families across the UK with access to devices, connectivity and the critical tools needed to fully participate in remote learning.”

Each Asda store across Eastbourne will nominate a nearby primary or secondary school with a large proportion of families struggling to support home learning.

Schools will be identified by the store’s Community Champions based on their existing partnerships through their community outreach programme.

Asda’s Better Communities team will then review nominations using government benchmarking data to ensure laptops are going to schools with the greatest need.

The first shipment of laptops are expected to be delivered to schools in February where they will be distributed to priority pupils.