00:00What we're seeing is a digital divide that is ever-growing and a two-tier society.
00:05Some people who are enjoying all the benefits of digitisation
00:09and others who are finding that they're entirely left behind in that rush to move everything online.
00:15It's the summer holidays, so schools are closed for six weeks,
00:18but that doesn't mean that the learning has stopped completely.
00:20Homework, extracurricular tasks, studying for exams next year.
00:24Kids might not be physically in school,
00:25but they still need the tools that they have when they're there at their disposal.
00:29Things like laptops, decent Wi-Fi connection, and other tech is important to so many young learners.
00:35And there are concerns that those without the means to access those are at risk of falling behind.
00:40Over half of low-income families in Wales are saying that their child is going to struggle to access a device that's suitable for learning.
00:49So that would be something with a keyboard or an iPad or something like that.
00:53And or they won't have access to reliable internet at home.
00:58What will this mean over the summer holidays?
01:01It means that children are less likely to engage with any homework or summer learning tasks that might have been set for them.
01:0846% of Welsh teachers told us that they personally know pupils who are going to fall behind over the summer holidays.
01:17Wales is particularly affected mainly because there's a direct correlation between poverty and digital poverty.
01:22We have a poorer population in Wales, so thousands of children are affected.
01:26We often see this around the former coalfield communities.
01:31We provide a lot of support in places like Neithportalbot and Bridge End,
01:35where families simply can't access the kind of kit and connectivity that they need.
01:41And again, across Mid Wales, North Wales, places like Wrexham, actually people just don't have the money necessarily to be able to buy this,
01:50which places more pressure on parents who are already struggling to be able to provide, put food on the table, fuel for the house.
01:58And now we've got this digital element as well, where schools are just expecting parents to be able to afford this during the summer and indeed year round.
02:08Elizabeth says that she wants organisations to be involved where they can,
02:12to offload their old laptops and other tech so it can be used again by young people for their schoolwork.
02:17But there's also a big role that businesses can play, and it's something we're doing more and more in Wales,
02:23is saying to businesses, give us the old kit that you maybe have had for a couple of years and now you're refreshing it.
02:30Just because it's too old for your team members doesn't mean that's not going to be absolutely transformational for a family.
02:36Just because it's not the absolute latest enterprise edition, you know, actually for a child, that's going to be fantastic.
02:42So we can get these recycled in Wales, we get those actually refurbished down in Tonypandy,
02:51and then we can get those back out to families who are always incredibly relieved to be able to get their hands on a piece of kit.
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