Schools are given €117,000 IT report - but no new computers
- Published: 26 September 2008
By John Walshe Education Editor
A report about investing "effectively" in information communications technology (ICT) in education was sent to 4,000 schools which have seen no state investment in computers for years.
"There is no investment and hasn't been for years," said the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) general secretary John Carr.
"Instead, all schools get is a report, the publication and distribution of which is little more than a vanity project."
He accused the Government of wasting taxpayers' money as the total bill for printing and couriering the report and other schools' material was €116,900 -- which could have provided more than 300 computers.
Mr Carr said the reaction of teachers to the publication and distribution of the ICT report was almost universally negative.
"Teachers want effective investment in school computing, not glossy reports delivered by couriers telling them what they already know about the need for effective investment."
The report was compiled by a strategy group established by the Department of Education to advise on the spending of €252m in the National Development Plan (NDP) on school computing.
It states that a lack of sufficient and sustained investment over recent years resulted in insufficient and aging computer equipment in schools, no provision for technical or backup support and inadequate levels of broadband internet.
Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes described the exercise as a "profligate waste of cash" and said Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe should be spending money on computers in the classroom rather than on "pointless" printing and couriering.
One principal who received the report apparently threw it across the staffroom with the words, "Invest what?"
Mr Hayes said: "The minister has refused to give firm commitments on ICT spending in schools, with the €252m outlined in the NDP under threat and increasingly looking like it will collapse."
But Mr O'Keeffe dismissed the statement as a "cheap shot" and an attempt to mislead people.
"It was a typical response from somebody who had no policy solution for anything and it did not present the facts,'' according to a spokesman.
The printing of the ICT strategy report included Irish translation -- a requirement of the Official Languages Act.
The production and printing of the report, and the accompanying CDs, cost €50,137.30.
In the interests of cost-effectiveness, it was delivered in conjunction with a number of inspectorate reports. The boxing, packing, storage and distribution cost of the consolidated distribution was €66,163.10, he added.
The pack sent to schools consisted of 17 items, only two of which were copies of the ICT strategy report. The other 15 items were reports constituting wide-ranging policy advice which was of direct interest and importance to schools.
Two examples of other reports which were in the pack are 'Irish In The Primary School' and 'Looking At Irish At Junior Cycle'.
"Deputy Hayes' statement that the department spent €116,900 just printing the 'Investing Effectively' ICT report and couriering it to schools around the country is therefore bogus, irresponsible and typical of a politician who consistently substitutes soundbite for substance," added the spokesman.
