State ‘must invest in ICT for schools’

TEACHERS have warned Ireland’s ambitions to be a knowledge society will be set back enormously without significant Government investment in computers and technology in schools.

Despite a €252 million initiative for information and communications technology (ICT) in schools under the National Development Plan, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland said shortfalls will continue to exist.

TUI president Tim O’Meara said: “It equates to just €46 per child per year, far behind the €110 spent per child in England on technology in the classroom. With our current economic health as a nation and the importance of ICT in developing the much-vaunted knowledge society, this is shortsighted in the extreme.”

He raised the issue ahead of the union’s annual congress, which opens in Co Donegal tomorrow.

The TUI estimates half of computer facilities in Irish schools are unusable, after a 2006 National Council for Technology in Education report showed one-in-five school computers is at least seven years old. It revealed just 4% of computers are in classrooms, with 60% in dedicated computer rooms.

Mr O’Meara said: “At a minimum, every classroom should have a digital projector and a laptop to enable teachers to use computer facilities in everyday lessons.”

He also criticised the level of technical support provided to schools for ICT, with much of the provision being made by teachers who undertake training privately: “At the moment, there is no available technical support for ICT facilities in schools. Ireland is unique in Europe in this respect, with every other country having technicians on site or accessible within the community.”

The TUI is concerned about broadband, which has been rolled out to most of the country’s 4,000 schools.

“While the ‘pipeline’ is readily available, the speed of the broadband is so slow as to make it useless in many cases,” Mr O’Meara said.