I don't mean to be offensive here (so apologies) but up in the north of scotland you need to speak a foreign language, with 3 kids, take heroin and deal in cocaine before anything becomes free. That sounds mean but in my area it is very much the truth!

Perhaps it has something to do with preparing them to comfortably use increasingly common technology?
I'm astounded how many kids have more and better gadgets than I have these days.

Are they telling you it has to be certain tablet model, or anything goes (like iPad, Android or WinRT)? Did they elaborate why it would have to be a tablet, and not e.g. some cheap laptop, or alternatively merely a smartphone?

Is it some private school? Because if public primary schools here started requiring unemployed parents to buy 250€ equipment for their kids at school, there would be a huge outcry. So if a tablet was really a requirement, then either the government would have to buy them to all kids, or more likely the kids would borrow tablets from the school (ie. the school has to buy enough of them for all pupils).

The public schools here are supposed to free for all children (and their parents), including meals, books etc. I think high school (from 16 years old up) is the first time here when you have to e.g. pay for your school books.

Sure, but at least here I'd expect then the school to buy (and loan) that needed equipment to all the kids.

I'm surprised if it is different in e.g. Netherlands, I've always considered it as a similar "nanny state" as e.g. the Nordic countries.

The more I think about it, the less likely I find it that it is an actual requirement, but more like the parents being advised to buy a tablet for their kids so that it is supposed to help with their school work.

But I'd find it wrong even then, because of course parents want all the best for their kids, and know that if they refuse to buy something like it, their kid might be teased for not having one when every other kid in the class has. So the school is still twisting parents' arms to buy tablets for the kids.

And especially if the school claims that something like a smartphone (or phablet), or even a small old laptop, is not suitable for the purpose, and if they even say it has to be certain tablet or from certain vendor (like Apple), then I think there is some hidden agenda, and they have an agreement with some company about trying to persuade parents to buy their products. You said it is a £200 tablet, so is it certain model, and is it bought through the school?

If the tablet is meant mainly for writing, I sure as heck would rather get a laptop with a proper keyboard instead (I'd probably give one of my older ones, like that old Dell which is running Mint Linux). Writing with a tablet your school work, are they kidding?

On the contrary, the thing he needs most is a way to write legibly, and a computer is the easiest way to get that. Still, you must be happy that he has a future in medicine.

Anyway, on the topic, what exactly is the kid expected to do with the tablet? Except for playing games during class, that is.

This is exactly what was happening with school uniforms in the UK, schools had cashback deals with expensive suppliers. It took the government too damn long to do something but they did at least rewrite the legislation so that parents were allowed to use whatever supplier they wanted including the cheapest supermarket options.

Low income families can get help too if they can't afford uniforms. I think if I was a parent with a school making demands like this I'd tell the school to get lost.

Here the school (meaning the compulsory school before e.g. high school) is supposed to be fully free for everyone, no matter the income. So also the "rich kids" get free meals, free books from the school etc. And I feel that's exactly how it should be. We don't have school uniforms though, but if we did, I'd expect every kid to get it for free from the school.

So the schools are not really requiring the parents to buy their kids anything for the school, high or low income. I guess parents still choose to buy the less expensive stuff like pencils, backpack etc. for the kids themselves, but I presume if some parents would not do that, the school would supply the kid with pencils and stuff. I recall when I was a kid, we were given them anyway, even if we had our own already.

Tablets in elementary school? Sounds to me like someone on the school board is trying to do a favour for certain supplier by forcing parents into buying useless gadgets for children. I would try to get parents together to call out the school on this BS. Children at that age don't need tablets for education, pen and paper is all they require. The argument of preparing children to get accustomed to technology is not valid, by the time they get to use that technology it will have changed anyway. In my day the most high-tech device we had was a TI-30 graphical calculator, which we got in 11th grade, and we were not forced to buy it, we borrowed it for free from the school. Same thing with my brother who is going to the same school now.

On my cousins elementary school (that is the same I go years from now) it's a reality right now. All the children up to 9 years have it's own personal laptop. What for? I don't really know, since they use it textbooks already (I'm not against laptop use, but I don't get the meaning of it having text books), but I know that I, my neighboor, my mom, my dad, my uncle, my aunt... are paying these laptops in form of goverment tax (public school).

The worst thing is not that, the worst thing is that... they bought all the laptops with Win7 Installed, then, bought WinXP licenses and installed XP over 7 (WTF?!).
First of all, why spend money on Windows licenses?, install a friendly linux system, it'll do the work for whatever they're going to do in class and the money of taxes won't fly away.
And second, WTF?!, installin XP over 7? Why, to get more GOG.com compatibility?

Gosh, how can we get better education when the people managing it think that VR Soccer '96 it's the best soccer game out there... lol, just joking, they think that VR Soccer '96 it's a dish.

Get him one with pen support and OneNote.

Don't throw away money for cheap ass touch screen crap that he will rarely use.