Schools will get heavily discounted software updates to keep older computers running Windows 10 when support for the operating system ceases this year. Microsoft will no longer provide free software updates for Windows 10 after October 14, with the company warning that computers still running the system may stop working. Private owners Earlier this month, Lord Knight, a Labour peer, asked ministers for the estimated cost to schools in England. Baroness Smith said devices that met requirements for Windows 11 would be updated free, and that the DfE and Microsoft had 鈥渧alidated鈥� a discounted plan for extended security updates on Windows 10 devices. Schools will pay $1 per device for the first year of support, $2 in the second and $4 in the third. Prices will be based on foreign exchange rates at the point of ordering. Lord Knight said he was 鈥渄elighted鈥�. 鈥淚nevitably, laptops do need replacing because they become technically obsolete, regardless of updates. So this is, I think, quite a welcome opportunity.鈥� A suggests 91 per cent of primary schools and 93 per cent of secondary schools have laptops for pupil use, while 95 per cent of secondary schools and 43 per cent of primaries have desktop computers. The same survey suggests that 95 per cent of primary and 93 per cent of secondary schools have laptops for staff use and 81 and 88 per cent respectively have desktops.