Laptop computers given to students across five primary schools in Leicester are now no longer able to access the internet.
The local city council bought 150 netbooks in 2011 and gave them to pupils as part of a three-year project that cost £370,000.
However, it has emerged dongles provided with the devices to allow the youths to access the internet no longer work and the local authorities have declined to comment on what has gone wrong, according to the Leicester Mercury.
Opposition councillor Ross Grant, said: “It’s a fiasco. The key component of this project was that kids could use these netbooks to access the internet but they no longer work.”
Woodstock Primary, Knighton Fields Primary, Caldecote Primary, Hazel Community Primary and Merrydale Junior School were all selected for the scheme because they are based in poorer areas of Leicester where children are less likely to have access to the web.
Cllr Grant has called upon the city’s mayor to investigate what has happened and why so much money is being wasted in a time of austerity.
