The Government has almost doubled its spending on computer education in schools. Mr. Willi
The programme began in 1980, was originally due to end next year, and had a budget of £ 9 million. This has been raised in bits and pieces over the past year to £ 11 million. The programme will now run until March 1986, at a provisional cost of around £ 20 million.
MEP provides courses for teachers and develops computer programme for classroom use of personal computers. It is run in partnership with a Department of Industry programme under which British -made personal computer are supplied to schools at half- price.
In that way, virtually every secondary school has been provided with at least one computer at a central cost to the taxpayer of under £ 5 million. The primary schools are now under way at the turn of the year.
But, as Mr. Shelton admitted yesterday: "It's no good having the computers without the right computer programmes to put into them and a great deal more is still needed." Hence, MEP's new funds.
Mr. Shelton said yesterday that MEP's achievements in curriculum development and teacher training had shown that the computer could be used in all courses. About 15,000 secondary teachers have taken short courses in "computer awareness"— that is a necessary part of the half-price computer offer—and training materials are now being provided for 50,000 primary teachers. The reasoning behind MEP is that no child now at school can hope for a worthwhile job in the future economy unless he or she understands how to deal with computers—not in vocational training sense, but in learning the general skill to extract the required information of the moment from the ever - spreading flood.
The original MEP programme was expected to ______.
A.last two years and cost nine million pounds
B.last four years and cost nine million pounds
C.last two years and cost eleven million pounds
D.last four years and cost eleven million pounds