Why the £10 IT education crisis threatens all of our futures

Like many parts of the public sector, IT in schools and colleges is suffering from budget cuts, yet the problem may be so profound it threatens the future of Britain's global IT standing.


Britain’s prolific production of IT experts is hugely valuable to the economic well being of the nation.  Our globally recognised reputation for technology innovation, from chip production through to business software coding and the (hugely lucrative) skill of producing billion dollar video games, Britain is a hotbed of talent in a sector which will continue to increase in importance - for businesses and consumers.

However, are we doing enough at grass roots to safeguard this position?  Britain was fortunate enough in the 80s to house an affluent population, with disposable time and incomes helping spawn a generation of self-educated computer geeks.  The skills they brought were to form the bedrock of the professional IT sector for many years.  Into the 90s, the country was still enjoying wealth which allowed it to buy the latest equipment and technology, while the excitement around the dotcom boom - and the accompanying promise of wealth - was enough to encourage bright talent into the sector.

Fast-forward to 2012, and the privileged position we once enjoyed has gone.  Developing nations now have access to cheap, powerful computing while the democratising effects of the now ubiquitous internet mean than any talented individual with drive and good ideas can sell their apps around the world.  

To add to this woe, our schools and colleges are not being given the funding they need to ensure pupils have access to the newest IT.  Figures from Syscap show that almost 400 schools across England and Wales spent nothing on IT last year, while hundreds of institutions (10 per cent) spent less than £10 per pupil, per year, on technology.

Just think about that figure for a second: £10 per pupil.  While the IT world is moving forward at a furious pace, if an educational institution wants to buy an iPad for one student, it will cost the equivalent of 40 years funding for that individual.  How can we possibly hope to keep pace with the rest of the world if funding continues at this rate?  Technology dates badly, and while the problem might not be obvious today, continuing at this level of funding, thousands of our students will soon be using technology from a long forgotten era.

Clearly, this is not the fault of the schools, with budgets squeezed beyond belief since the public sector cuts began.  Every public body can put a case forward for why their funding should not be cut, but in the case of IT education the long term outlook indicates we are forging a country which will not just relinquish its world leading IT position, but become relegated to one of the also-rans.

We can’t promise to solve this huge problem; it is indeed a much larger political issue which must be addressed at a higher level.  However, Richmond Systems does have 20 years experience helping educational facilities such as yours deliver cost-effective IT support.  All businesses we speak to, regardless of their industry, have a degree of waste that can be trimmed, so get in touch to see what we can offer you.