Irish schools to get ICT makeover
22-01-2007
by Emmet Ryan

Schools are set to receive a technology boost under the new EUR180 billion National Development Plan.

The National Development Plan 2007-2013 will be unveiled by Minister for Finance Brian Cowen on Tuesday and will include details of a major investment in computers and IT for schools. The new investment is designed to develop an eLearning culture in schools.

The Minister for Education Mary Hanafin will follow this up with a strategy for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in schools.

The planned NDP investment in schools follows a report in December that the Government planned to invest EUR25 million to buy hardware for teaching new and revised technology subjects. Under that plan approximately 500 schools will receive funding that'll be used to provide hardware such as PCs, laptops, printers, digital scanners and data projectors.

Interest groups and teachers unions have expressed concerns in recent months over ICT development in schools. In August ICT Ireland said it was concerned that the performance of students in maths and science based subjects needed to improve in order to attract high level graduates to the ICT sector.

Earlier this month the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland said the Government should treble what it spends on computers for students in second-level schools and that teachers should be given laptops and training so that ICT could be fully integrated into the education system.

The proposed NDP investment comes after a long period where Ireland has fared poorly in global rankings of ICT usage in education. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) ranks Ireland alongside Mexico for its ratio of computers to students.

Around one in five computers in Irish schools cannot be used, while 50 percent are at least four years old, according to the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE). Despite this dismal performance, last year only EUR2.3 million was given to schools for the purchase of IT equipment.

Last month ENN reported that the NCTE had joined the Union of Students in Ireland and the Combined Higher Education Software Trust in signing an agreement with Microsoft to offer specially-priced software to every primary, second and third level student in the country.

The Software4Students programme will make discounts on all Microsoft software available to 917,000 students. Schools and third level institutions receive a rebate worth roughly 5 percent of the licence price every time a student purchases software under the agreement.