Schools in Edinburgh, Scotland are set to receive 39,000 iPads for use by teachers and students, thanks to a grant supplied by the City of Edinburgh Council’s IT services provider, CGI. The program “Edinburgh Learns for Life” will be looking to provide each child with an iPad between the ages of 10 and 18 with 27,000 being brand new models and 12,000 being refreshed models.

The main aim is to make sure students can work well out of the classroom, improve their digital literacy as well as making sure all students have equal access to resources and teachers whether at home or at school. The grant of £17.6 million supplied by CGI will also be looking at installing wireless access points in schools.

“This is a really exciting project which is going to be a real game-changer for the learning and teaching in our schools. Giving pupils their own device has been shown to improve outcomes and result in increased engagement and motivation for our young people. It will create a learning environment which will drive higher levels of creativity also improve teacher and learner collaboration.”

Ian Perry – Education convener for the City of Edinburgh Council