Government delaying schools' IT funding: INTO
02-01-2008
by Ciara O'Brien

Teachers' union INTO has accused the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, of delaying funding to schools by sitting on a report into ICT in education.

Union general secretary John Carr has warned the Government that failure to invest properly in ICT for education will have repercussions for the economy in the future, and described it as tantamount to neglect.

The report, from the expert advisory group on computers in schools, has yet to be published, and the union has called on Minister Hanafin to do so as soon as possible.

The expert group was established to investigate how best to spend the funding allocated to schools for IT under the National Development Plan (2007-2013). Under the NDP, EUR252 million was allocated for investment in ICT at primary and post-primary level over a seven-year period. The NDP was published in January last year, and to date the funding has yet to be spent, according to INTO.

Carr said that in the past five years, primary schools have had no government funding for the purchase, upgrade, maintenance or repair of computers. "This is the digital equivalent of Nero fiddling while Rome burned," he said, drawing a contrast between this situation and the level of investment in other OECD countries.

"We are being left behind and without a substantial investment we will fall further behind," he said. "We have one of the lowest rates of ICT usage in education in the developed world. This is unsurprising given that one in five of all school computers are clapped out."

In 2005, Carr said that only EUR2.3 million was given to schools to fund IT equipment, compared to a EUR100 million plan that schools in Northern Ireland are currently subject to. Under the Northern Irish plan, children will have access to up to date computer equipment in schools in a bid to familiarise them with the technology.

Carr is laying the blame for the situation at the Government's door, warning that the failure to invest in IT in schools and develop skills necessary for the economy will ensure that companies will seek alternative locations where the skills are readily available. He also warned of a digital divide between "computer rich and computer poor schools and pupils", as there was no policy in place to give schools a minimum standard of equipment.

The INTO's criticism is echoed by Kerry e-learning group Fluirse. Co-founder of the firm Tomas Finneran described it as a frustrating situation and accused the Government of tokenism in what amounted to a pre-election promise.

"For every year this is delayed, another child misses out," he told ENN. Finneran said it was an uphill battle, and the proposed funding was inadequate. "It's very thinly spread, vastly inadequate and now it's delayed."

The stinging attack on the Government comes at the same time as high-tech business group ICT Ireland warned once more of the possibility of a future skills shortage and tried to encourage potential third-level students to take up a high-tech course.