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Schools may ban calculators

Alison Kershaw
Friday 02 December 2011 01:00 GMT
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Primary school pupils could be banned from using calculators until they have learned basic sums, ministers said, amid concerns that an over-reliance on the devices is damaging children's arithmetic.

Nick Gibb, the Schools minister, suggested calculators should only be used once a child masters basic maths.

Figures show 18 per cent of pupils in England aged from seven to 11 failed to make the progress expected of them in maths.

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