The use of wireless internet in schools should be suspended amid claims children may be exposed to health risks, according to teachers.
They said schools should “stick to wired computers” until it can be proved networks do not cause cancer or sterility. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers, which represents more than 160,000 staff, called for a major investigation into the biological and thermal effects of wi-fi.
The union backed calls for a Government investigation into the “considerable biological and thermal effects” and for the results to be made public. Wi-fi works by transmitting information via radio waves from a telephone line to a computer and back.
Becta, the Government’s education technology agency, says it does not actively promote use of the technology but insists it can “complement” a school’s wired network. Almost 14,500 schools are believed to have installed the systems. Whole towns have also been contacted, with Norwich already a “wi-fi city”.