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Laptops for Lockdown needs the ad industry's help
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An estimated 2.6 million children in England currently live below the poverty line, but the advertising industry can help ease one particular burden of their lockdown lives.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has meant that, since the start of this year, schools across the UK have been shut to all but vulnerable children, and children of key workers.
Most lessons are now organised and distributed online but, of those children living below the poverty line, up to 1.8 million of them do not have access to an appropriate device with which to do their schoolwork at home.
An initiative called Laptops for Lockdown, set up by members of the UK advertising industry and supported by the Advertising Producers Association, has made it their mission to supply laptops and tablets to schools lacking in resources for home schooling.
We are appealing to the generosity of all our friends in the advertising community to donate whatever they can to help.
With the industry grappling with the lack of diversity within the business, Laptops for Lockdown wants to ensure that diversity gap doesn't widen with children from less affluent backgrounds denied the opportunity to carry on with their education while stuck at home.
"Any parent who has gone through the horrors of homeschooling this past year will appreciate how hard it is," said Sally Miller, from Laptops for Lockdown. "Imagine how much more difficult it would be without access to an electronic device."
"This is why we are appealing to the generosity of all our friends in the advertising community to donate whatever they can to help," added Laptops for Lockdown's Alex Katz. "Advertising agencies, production companies, post and editing houses, music companies, everyone... if you’ve got a device, and you’d like to donate it, please contact us."
We have had an allocation of devices from the government, but sadly not enough to meet the needs of my school.
"I work in an area of high deprivation in north London and have a large number of disadvantaged pupils," said Melissa Davies Oliveck, Head Teacher at Starks Field Primary School. "We have had an allocation of devices from the government, but sadly not enough to meet the needs of my school. Many of our pupils still have no access to a laptop or are sharing a device with siblings. This is impacting negatively on their learning and widening the gap between disadvantaged pupils and others."
Laptops for Lockdown is looking for PCs or Macs that are less than seven years old, in full working order, and which have video and microphone capabilities. The computers need to be wiped before donating, though there is also a two-step process, taken on by Laptops for Lockdown and then by the schools themselves, which will ensure all material is deleted from the hard drive before further use.
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