‘We get computers that pupils’ parents are replacing at home’

THE computer system at St David’s Boys National School is so outdated that staff rely on replacements from pupils’ parents who are dumping old equipment.

John McGarry, principal of the 400-pupil school in Artane on Dublin’s northside, gets angry whenever anyone mentions IT to him. And he is embarrassed already in advance of a visit next week by staff of an English school, which has state-of-the-art equipment in all its classrooms.

“Our computers were given to us when the Gateway plant closed down nearby, around eight years ago. The network server we run them on is totally outdated and we rely on the voluntary services of a past pupil to keep the thing running,” he said.

“We are now being given five and six-year-old computers that our pupils’ parents are replacing at home because we haven’t the money to replace our own,” said Mr McGarry.

He said the world can be brought into the class with interactive whiteboards which the school in Devon has in every room. But St David’s has just two such boards shared among the 15 classes, after parents raised the €13,000 cost.

“Every class has internet access but the wireless broadband system funded by the Department of Education was so unreliable we decided to use funding from parents to get in a different broadband system,” he said. “Our computer room has 22 machines but at least one-third of them are out of order, so when classes are in there, you could have three or four boys sharing each terminal,” said Mr McGarry.

The staff are more likely to use their home computers to prepare lessons but they feel unable to use their classroom equipment for teaching.

“If a class is researching for a project they should be able to go online in class but our pupils simply can’t because the server is so slow and unreliable,” said the principal.

“There is a computer in every room but they are totally outdated. With what they have, teachers are trying to spread IT skills among more than 30 pupils in some classes,” he said.

Large class sizes was a problem cited by teachers as a difficulty trying to use information and communications technology (ICT) in a report last week about how the primary curriculum is being taught. The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment study revealed that just two-in-five teachers frequently or sometimes use ICT and that almost half of teachers never use such equipment in class for Irish or social, personal and health education.