London, March 21: The less pupils use computers at school and at home, the better they do in international tests of literacy and maths, the largest study of its kind said.

The findings raise questions over the UK government?s decision, announced by finance minister Gordon Brown in the budget last week, to spend another ?1.5 billion on school computers in addition to the ?2.5 billion it has already spent.

The study, published by the Royal Economic Society, said: ?Despite numerous claims by politicians and software vendors to the contrary, the evidence so far suggests that computer use in schools does not seem to contribute substantially to students? learning of basic skills such as maths or reading.?

Indeed, the more pupils used computers, the worse they performed, said Munich University?s researchers Thomas Fuchs and Ludger Wossmann.

Their report also noted that being able to use a computer at work had no greater impact on employability or wage levels than being able to use a telephone or a pencil.