Intel is to
make a laptop for the education sector in Britain as part of a push to get into
this lucrative market sector.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the
Specialist
Schools and Academics Trust to train 265,000 teachers in interactive
learning skills by 2011.
Intel will also set up a web-based teaching resource with lesson plans,
digital media and advice for training students.
The laptop for pupils will be priced at around £500 per unit, according to
reports in the Sunday Times.
The laptop will be ruggedised for use in schools and will have a cloth cover
that can be printed with the school's logo to deter thieves.
According to the report, the laptop is the brainchild of Sean McGuire,
Intel's UK-based head of education and government, who has convinced Intel's
management to go ahead with the plan.
Intel has a long record in the education industry in this country. In 1998 it
formed the
Oxford-Intel
Education Initiative to develop software teaching aids for schools, and set
up a specialist education division in 2003.
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