Londoners encouraged to donate unused laptops in face of ‘digital exclusion’

The London-based charity Restart Project kicked off a new campaign encouraging Londoners to donate unused laptops to be repaired and distributed to support disadvantaged students who do not have access to online learning amid COVID-19 lockdown. In response to the campaigners’ decry to how vital online learning is currently inaccessible to students on the wrong side of the ‘digital divide,’ the Restart Project has further partnered with community organisations across London to establish a virtual help-desk where they can allocate challenging repairs to Restart’s home-based volunteers. ‘The response has been great but there are currently still thousands of children in Lewisham doing their homework on smartphones. We desperately need donated laptops so we can wipe them, refurbish them, and distribute them to the schools that are requesting them from us,’ highlighted Catbytes CIC director Damian Griffiths.