ICT funding for primary schools vital for new job creation - Healy Eames
- Last Updated: Wednesday, 08 October 2008 01:00
Fine Gael National Press Office Press Release
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Leinster House Contact: Senator Fidelma Healy Eames
Dublin 2 Deborah Sweeney Seanad Education
Ireland 01 6184076
ICT funding for primary schools vital for new job creation - Healy Eames
Obsolete computers in classes of 30 children with limited broadband access is not the way to build our future
Delivery of the €252million Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Strategy, committed to in the NDP which has been slashed by Minister O'Keeffe, is now, more than ever, crucial to Ireland's future growth and competitiveness according to Fine Gael Seanad Education Spokesperson, Senator Fidelma Healy Eames. Senator Healy Eames was speaking during Fine Gael's Seanad Private Members' Motion on primary school under-funding.
"The reality is that the majority of computers in our schools are out of date and obsolete with many classrooms having just one computer for every 30 children. Couple this with poor broadband coverage and the outcome is essentially nothing. The facts are that ICT has been recognised as an essential literacy since the late 20th century. This Government's refusal to invest in ICT is ensuring that we are kept firmly at the bottom of the league and confines us to traditional approaches at a time when we need, more than ever, to be innovative and creative. It is only through creativity and innovation, which must begin in the primary school classroom that we will become competitive as a nation and will be enabled to create new jobs and opportunities.
"Reports compiled by the Department of Education's Strategy group and the Inspectorate on ICT in schools have both been openly critical of the lack of ICT investment in our primary schools and show that our children are relying on aging computer equipment, a dearth of adequate technical support and insufficient levels of broadband availability. Worse still 100,000 primary students are still in classes of 30 or more and with most having access only to domestic broadband, the real extent of the problem becomes clear.
"Minister O Keeffe's commitment to delivering on ICT funding for our schools must be seriously questioned. By slashing the €252million budget, he is contradicting the recommendations of his Inspectorate and he is showing that he has little understanding of the long-term embedded value that a satisfactory infrastructure would have on the development of our 'knowledge economy' and the creation of new jobs.
"The Taoiseach's assurance yesterday in the Dáil that 'Ireland is open for business' also inspires little confidence if he and Minister O'Keeffe do not honour the commitment of the funding promised in the NDP which Taoiseach Cowen has always said was sacrosanct."
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