Portsmouth's Elementary Education Trust has made a decision to allocate £70,000 to schools so they can buy tablet computers or Chromebooks so that children from families on low incomes don't miss out on education during the lockdown.
Increasingly large numbers of children are having to be educated at home because of coronavirus cases at school.
Chair of the trust, Cllr Hugh Mason, said "It's been very difficult to educate children who don't have access to a computer and Wi-Fi at home. This grant means that schools can loan these tablets to pupils to allow them to engage in online teaching, do their homework and keep up with their lessons. For many families on the very lowest incomes buying a computer and paying for Wi-Fi is just impossible.
"Children from the poorest families often do less well at school, and we want to make sure these children don't fall behind during the pandemic."
