Students from at-risk communities in Toronto still in need of devices for online learning

BY PAUL JUNOR

It is unfortunate that there are still so many families who have children that attend schools in the largest board in Canada, that still do not have devices to attend their online classes.

The Toronto District School Board has provided 7,300 Chromebooks and iPads to students, there is still a waiting list for 800 iPads for children in kindergarten and 96 Chromebooks. Chromebooks are not ideal for younger children. They are much better suited for high school students. Ryan Bird, spokesperson for the TDSB reported that currently there are approximately 100 requests for loaned devices. This includes families that do not have devices or are in need of extra devices so that individual children do not have to share.

Given that thousands of students have gone from in-person learning to online, there has been an increase in the need for devices. Ryan Bird observes that in response to increased digital learning, “We anticipate a new delivery of iPads in November that will be handed out to about 1,000 kindergarten students.”

One of the drawbacks that resulted from students borrowing devices is that there is almost none available for students who attend in-person classes. The Ministry of Education has provided funds to many schools boards to obtain new devices when schools closed in March. School boards in the Greater Toronto Area have been able to distribute devices to students who are lacking them. TDSB distributed 50,000. York Region District School Board (YRDB) and Peel District School Board( PDSB) both gave out about 20,000. Many of these were equipped with devices that enable students to have access to Internet services.

Kayla Tischoff, who spoke on behalf of the PDSB told the Toronto Star that it does not currently have a waiting list. She states, “We’re currently able to provide technology where there is a need. With students moving between in-person and online learning, the needs at the school level may change, but at this time, we aren’t aware of any shortages.”

Licinio Muguelo, spokesperson for the YRDB told the Toronto Star, “Our boards have delivered over 5,000 devices. In addition, we have not officially requested the return of the approximately 21,000 tech packages we deployed to returning students in the spring, which has resulted in depleted school inventories. In response to the tech needs in our schools to support in a-class learning, a new supply of Chromebooks will be delivered to schools in the next few weeks.”

Shazia Vlahos, spokesperson for the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) indicated that all students who needed devices have received them.
“In some instances, there has been a lag between receiving the request for a device and delivery. We have not taken any computers out of in-class learning since we purchased new devices back in March.”

There are many on-going challenges at the TDSB that have an effect on the ability of the board to provide devices to all students. There are many students from at-risk communities who have had their education disrupted because of their ability to obtain reliable Internet services with consistency.