Poor home broadband impacting children’s education
Poor home broadband is impacting children’s homework, the results of a Pure Telecom survey of parents of children in primary and secondary school.
The survey found that while 28% of children’s homework now relies on the internet, 36% of parents report that slow or no broadband at home has, on occasion, left their child unable to complete online homework.
The online research, carried out by Censuswide on behalf of Irish-owned high-speed broadband company Pure Telecom, surveyed a nationally representative group of 252 parents of primary and secondary school children as part of a 1,001-person national study.
Some 35% of parents admitted that on at least one occasion, their child has had to complete their online homework away from home due to poor broadband access.
The survey found that children in rural areas are more likely to be impacted by a poor broadband connection when it comes to carrying out their homework. According to their parents, some 40% of children have been unable to complete their homework due to issues with the internet, compared to 33% living in urban or suburban areas.
Meanwhile, 38% have carried out their homework away from their home in order to access better internet, compared to 33% living in urban or suburban areas.
The survey also found that the majority of parents are satisfied that their child’s school is doing enough to broaden their digital learning. Pure Telecom’s research found that 72% of parents believe that their child’s school is providing sufficient eLearning opportunities for their child. Meanwhile, just 6% of parents report to be dissatisfied with the access to high-speed broadband at their child’s school.
“In today’s digitally progressive society, the internet is integral to a child’s education,” said Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom. “School programmes, and therefore homework, have become increasingly sophisticated, so it is extremely important that children across the country have access to high-speed broadband both at home and in the classroom.
“It is clear that the National Broadband Plan, along with the Government’s Schools Broadband Programme, are vital for the educational achievement of our youngest generations. We work with Ireland’s major network infrastructure providers, which allows us to provide broadband to almost every home, school and business in Ireland that has a fibre network. We look forward to being able to connect more homes with high-speed broadband as the National Broadband Plan continues to make progress and enriches the education of the digital leaders of our future.”
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