CeBIT sponsor slams Germany over PC lag in schools

Mar 2, 2011, 16:41 GMT

Hanover, Germany - Bitkom, the industry federation which sponsors the CeBIT trade fair, criticized Germany Wednesday for its lagging introduction of computers to schools, with only 15 per cent of children having daily classroom access to a computer.

On the second day of CeBIT, the global computing expo in Hanover, Bitkom called on the host country to adopt a modest goal: install an internet connection in every classroom within the next three years.

Germany has been overtaken by other nations where teachers are tell children to open e-books instead of battered paper text books, demonstrate maths on a digital whiteboard instead of a chalk blackboard, and teach languages using learning software.

Bitkom said digital teaching offered a solution to an abiding problem in German schools: helping slow learners without holding back bright students. It said learning software was modular, so was easy to adapt to each child's level.

In Hanover, Bitkom president August-Wilhelm Scheer said most German children used computers at home. He called on schools to take advantage of pupils' self-taught computer skills, offering web access and whiteboards in every classroom by 2014.

He said a survey showed teachers also wanted school authorities to fund digital learning, with 76 per cent saying children worked with greater enthusiasm when they had digital media to use.

Some 92 per cent of children told pollsters that classes with laptops and e-books were more interesting.

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