Computers are to replace blackboards in UK classrooms as part of the government's £15bn Building Schools for the Future programme.

Education Secretary Charles Clarke has pledged to roll out interactive whiteboards to every classroom so the teacher's PC, including web pages and desktop applications, can be projected onto a screen visible by the whole class.

All newly built schools will automatically have the technology installed but the plan is to make the change in all classrooms, building on the government's pledge to ensure all schools have high-speed broadband internet access.

'The schools of the future will be a world away from the schools of the past,' said Clarke.

'I want to ensure that we use this opportunity to ensure that every school has a interactive board in every classroom, is green and open to the whole of the community.

'Every school of the future will have an interactive whiteboard in every classroom.

Technology has already revolutionised learning, says Clarke.

'Today 98 per cent of secondary schools have access to broadband, but I think we need to go further.

'By providing whiteboards in every classroom, teachers will have a interactive replacement for black boards which allow them to work with pupils to surf the net, download information and develop presentations,' he said.

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