Schools to get £1.67bn for IT

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has guaranteed £1.67bn of funding for computers for schools as part of a three-year plan.

In his budget speech today, Gordon Brown announced the plan to raise spending on IT capital "because the teaching and educational revolution in our schools is no longer blackboard and chalk, it is computers and electronic whiteboards".

Primary- and secondary-school students will benefit from increased capital investment on buildings, technology and computers worth £1,000 per pupil per year by 2010 — a £350 rise on last year's figure.

Senior students will also have the opportunity to lease computers at a low cost from schools so they can use them at home, Brown said.