TUI pleads for technology to be spared from cutbacks

THE Government has been urged to save school computer and technology budgets from the chop in cutbacks it ordered on education spending.

The call from the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) follows last month’s publication of two key reports for the Department of Education on information and communication technology (ICT). It recommended increased investment in training for teachers, educational software, modern equipment, broadband access and technical support for schools.

Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has been unable, since taking office three months ago, to confirm if the promised €252 million spend on schools’ ICT under the National Development Plan will be rolled out.

TUI general secretary Peter McMenamin asked Mr O’Keeffe yesterday to give an assurance that ICT will be exempt from cutbacks in future education budgets, with education chiefs already being told to cut spending on non-frontline staff and services by 3%.

“The country has been rewarded handsomely for investing in education so we shouldn’t stop now,” he said.

“The kind of jobs we need to keep the economy going are high-tech and software, and if students don’t have that kind of background coming out of school, all those jobs will end up going abroad.

“We estimate that more than half of computer facilities in schools are now unusable and funding per student lags significantly behind Northern Ireland, where all principals and teachers have laptops for educational use.”

He expressed concern at the recent axing of 18 ICT advisory posts which offered support to schools on a regional basis, and said the digital divide will be widened by the fact that some schools have greater fundraising powers than others to upgrade computers and equipment.

The TUI is calling for the urgent replacement of obsolete ICT equipment in schools and digital content. It is also seeking the provision of teachers’ computers, high-speed broadband access and a data projector for every classroom, as well as a laptop for every teacher and appointment of an ICT co-ordinator to all schools.