UK schools linked to national grid

A #43 MILLION 10-year deal has placed schools in Dudley, West Midlands, at the forefront of the government?s efforts to connect the nation?s schools via a national grid for learning by 2002, writes Dan Sabbagh.

Many other councils are expected to follow Dudley?s lead over the next few years. BT and Research Machines were selected as the council?s suppliers last week.

Bob Griffith, national secretary of local government IT managers? association Socitm, said: ?The government is placing a lot of emphasis on a national grid. So interest in investing in educational IT is growing in importance to our members.?

The National Grid for Learning will take shape as a high-speed educational intranet, built up through a patchwork of local procurements.

It will contain national and locally created content to support children and teachers.

Under the proposed deal, Research Machines will replace or update existing systems.

BT will supply local area networks for each school, linked up to an educational intranet for the town.

The network is supplied under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), in which suppliers fund all the capital development and are repaid on a rental basis once the system is up and running.

PFI gives the council greater access to investment funds than would be possible if it spent its own capital.