Newham Recorder Lead Article 21st March 2001 

Link up to the future

 

EXCLUSIVE By GARY BIRD

Every home on a council estate in Stratford is set to get linked up to the information

superhighway as part of a Government pilot scheme to drive up learning standards

And boost job prospects.

 

All 750 properties on the Carpenters Estate will benefit from the Wired Up Communities initiative.

 

Homes will receive set-top boxes which allow them free access to online services through their television or personal computer if they have one.

 

Carpenters Primary School — where results are lower than both the Newham and national averages — will also get laptops and electronic whiteboards.

 

The estate has been chosen for the £1 million boost because of its high level of deprivation..

 

Ethnic minority groups make up almost 80 per cent f the population. More than 70 per cent of the tenants receive housing Benefit and nearly half get 1ncome Support.           

 

‘Underclass’    

Government Learning and Technology Minister Michael Wills said: “There is a gap between those who have access to new technology and those who do not. It is a gap that must be narrowed if we are to avoid this development of an information technology underclass.”          

 

Newham Council joined with the Carpenters Road Tenants Management Organisation and other groups to bid for funding from the Department for Education and Employment.

 

Project co-ordinator Richard Stubbs said: “It does not mean the homes will be getting new computers, but they will receive boxes and connection points to access the Internet at high speeds."

 

Tenants Management leader Linda Salim said: “It is fantastic news for families, particularly the schoolchildren. It can only boost learning and employment opportunities:’

 

Jan Bless, deputy bead teacher at Carpenters School, added: “We have been looking at expanding our use of computers but this goes way beyond what we hoped for."