More than 10,000 iPads used in Glasgow schools have not been in use for over a year because they only work when connected to the city council network. 

According to statistics from a new audit report, there are more than 80,000 iPads available across Glasgow’s EDS (education services) which benefits classroom-age children aged primary 6 and above as well as teaching staff – but more than 10,000 of these appear not to have been used on a council network for more than a year. 

The local authority is now issuing a plea for the devices to be returned to schools as they only work when connected to school wifi and if anyone does have a school iPad they have forgotten about it is never too late to hand it back.

Education Services believe that many of these devices were moved between schools for example, taken by a primary pupil when they moved to secondary school, but they continue to investigate the circumstances

More devices continue to be in circulation in secondary schools as there is a 1:1 device system for each pupil from S1 to S6 and a 1:1 system in primary 6 and 7.

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The audit also found that there are 1103 iPads which, according to the stock list, have not been allocated a Glasgow City Council asset tag, which means they have not been handed out yet.

Earlier this week, concerns were raised that primary school pupils in Edinburgh had access to pornography and videos of executions at public libraries due to a computer fault.

Glasgow City Council has said there have been no instances of children being able to access inappropriate content via school iPads.

. A spokeswoman from the council said: “There have been no instances of pupils being able to access inappropriate content on the managed iPads in Glasgow schools.

“The way our managed iPads work is that they access the Education specific internet filter no matter what wifi they connect to. 

“So, if a student went into a council library they would still be using the Education internet filtering not the libraries.”

The audit report suggests that devices that have not logged on the network for a prolonged period of time should be recovered where possible and returned to stock, to minimise the requirement for purchasing additional iPads.

Headteachers should also communicate with pupils and appropriate action should be taken for devices which are not recoverable.