SCHOOLKIDS are getting laptops rather than pencil cases in the back-to-school shopping bonanza.

Electronics giant Comet, in Whitebirk Drive, Blackburn, said there had been a record pre-term surge in sales of the computers.

Normal sales of just a few a month have rocketed to one a day - with more than 15 computers sold this month.

Ifty Ahmed, the Blackburn store's senior sales analyst, said: "We have seen a real increase in school and college students who want a basic computer package on the move.

"Entry level technology is proving really popular, which is typical of the back-to-school market, but this year has been better than most as we have been running a large campaign."

Dan Catlow, of Dixons, in Market Square, Burnley, said: "Our laptops are retailing from £499 and so have been very popular with young people going to university or college.

"But they are also very popular with children - they are the fashionable thing to have."

He added: "We have definitely seen an increase in sales as children return to school and as a result we have sometimes had a little trouble in getting hold of stock.

"It has almost always been parents coming in with their sons and daughters buying them just for them. I would estimate that nearly 90 per cent of sales of laptops have been for young people."

The trend comes as research revealed the use of a computer at home can give a major boost to a teenager's chances of getting good GCSEs.

Logging on to the internet during the week raised their chances of getting a C or better by 13 per cent, according to a study from the London School of Economics.

Parent Michael Smith, of Cravens Hollow, Blackburn, is a computer programmer and has two daughters with machines at home.

He said: "Computers definitely help them to do their school work and, now they are cheaper, I am not surprised that more people are buying them."

Simon Jones, Blackburn with Darwen branch secretary for the National Union of Teachers, said: "I think laptop computers can help children do better at school and anything that helps their education is obviously very welcome.

"The only thing that we would express worries about is families that are not in a position to afford them."

Its a long way from the days when children were grateful for a new school bag.

Ada Gibson, 89, of Clayton-le-Moors, said: "I'm all for new things but I honestly don't think they need these computers for going back to school.

"People have always managed in the past without them.

"People are forgetting how to write properly because of all this technology, something we would get the cane for if we got it wrong."