Rural Children Disadvantaged By Slow Broadband

Children living in rural areas are having their education damaged by their lack of access to fast Internet, says a report by insurance firm NFU Mutual.

According to the company, the survey of 1600 parents found one in five rural families have poor broadband speeds. A third of respondents said their online access was too slow for their needs.

The parents say this is preventing their children accessing educational resources on the Internet and having a negative effect on their learning.

“As more educational resources become Internet-based, country children risk falling behind their urban counterparts,” claimed rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual, Tim Price.

“Rural communities are already falling way behind and as the digital revolution gathers pace there’s a real risk that he viability of some rural businesses will be threatened and children be put at a disadvantage,” he continued.

Price added online study is now a key part of a child’s education and it is unfair that some are being deprived of learning opportunities because of their lack of access to high quality Internet.

“Government knows how vital broadband can be to people’s daily lives and what an important role it pays in education, from schoolchildren being able to do their homework to accessing information,” claimed Ed Vaizey, communications minister.

The government has been trying to solve this problem via its Broadband Delivery UK project.

The aim is for 95% of UK homes and businesses to have access to superfast (defined as 24Mbps or higher by the EU) broadband by 2017.

It was recently announced £250m of funds had been released to aid this project.

© 24N.biz