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ARE IRISH schools, already struggling with large classes and a shortage of funding, being left behind in the technology revolution? A draft report prepared by a strategy group appointed by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin gives few grounds for optimism. The group was asked by Ms Hanafin to examine how best to spend €252 million allocated to schools for Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) under the National Development Plan. But the strategy group is not convinced that this allocation, spread across 4,000 schools between now and 2013, will transform Irish schools. It suggests the investment is inadequate to fund progress beyond merely functional ICT levels and says that additional finance will be required to elevate our schools to a European Union average of ICT provision.

The draft report looks to a future where ICT becomes a "seamless component of the educational experience and where well trained teachers feel supported and adequately resourced in its use". But we have some distance to travel in meeting a goal which is critically important if we are to familiarise pupils with technology. A recent survey from the Teachers Union of Ireland estimated that 50 per cent of computer facilities in Irish schools are unusable while one fifth of computers are more than six years old. Remarkably, only 4 per cent of computers were located in classrooms; most were kept in a dedicated computer room. Overall, Irish schools have one of the lowest levels of ICT use within the EU.