Schools' IT spending set to increase

12:41 29th August 2008

IT spending in schools is forecasted to reach £1.29 billion per year by 2012, as the government's £45 billion schools programme gathers pace, a new report has disclosed.

According to the research company Kable, schools have committed to spend £1.05 billion on IT in 2008-2009, but the £4.5 billion earmarked for IT under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme will increase growth by 5.3 per cent over the next three years.

The BSF provides IT funding equivalent to £1,675 per pupil in each new or remodelled school, which covers network infrastructure and equipment, hardware, software and managed services.

Steve Moss, strategic director for IT at Partnerships for Schools said: "Because ten per cent of BSF is IT money and the programme has been running for a few years now, a lot more money is being spent on IT in education than before it started."

Last week, the government reported that the number of students taking IT-related A-levels fell further during 2007.

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