Funding education - Waiting for computers

UNDER the National Development Plan (NDP) €252 million was earmarked for IT for primary and post-primary education.

The plan was published a year ago this month but according to John Carr, general secretary of the INTO not “one red cent” has been spent on the project.

This confirms what has become a recurring and strengthening theme in recent months.

It worryingly suggests that our ambitions and our education system are not in line. It suggests that we expect our teachers to develop graduates capable of sustaining a knowledge-based economy even though our system is grossly underfunded.

A statistic that bears repeating because it says it all is that we spend a mere 4.6% of our GDP on education but the OECD average — just the average, not the top rate — stands at nearly half that again at 6.2%.

Once again the promise and practice have very little in common. Another reason to participate.