DfE to pay for early learning apps for poor families

The Department for Education will pay for subscriptions to early learning apps for disadvantaged families, the education secretary has announced.Damian Hinds said that families will be given free access to educational apps for smartphones and tablets, so children can benefit from positive “screen time”.Last summer the DfE launched a competition to identify which apps are the best at helping with children’s early education at home. Today, the education secretary announced that the DfE will be buying subscriptions to early learning apps and providing a number of them free of charge to disadvantaged families with children aged 2 to 4, in up to 12 pilot areas across the country. Mr Hinds said: “Not all screen time is created equal: on one side there are the pressures that come with social media and the time spent looking at a screen, which is a key worry for parents – but on the other, the power of technology and the internet can open up a whole new world when embraced properly. Harnessing the power of technolog. “But it’s also difficult to navigate, and often expensive, so I want to support parents of all backgrounds to feel able to embrace its benefits and use it in a measured, sensible way that helps to improve children’s early development at home.