Is £40m enough to give IT to our 4,000 schools?

The rapid growth of the Information Technology (IT) industry in Ireland shows we're no slouches at joining the information age…

The rapid growth of the Information Technology (IT) industry in Ireland shows we're no slouches at joining the information age. However, without integrated policy and major investment, our schools will, by comparison, slip back into the Stone Age.

The Department of Education and Science is currently drawing up a policy framework for IT in schools, following the launch last April of Schools IT 2000 which pledged £30 million in technology and training over five years. In September, Telecom Eireann announced a £10 million plan to connect every school to the Internet in the next three years. However, much more investment is needed if the Council of Europe target of one computer per three pupils is to be reached.

A Government report on IT strategy last March recommended one computer for every 10 pupils at primary level and one for every five at second level, if the next generation is to participate fully in the world economy. However, the report found that there were 100 primary and 33 second-level pupils per computer. A Forbairt study in 1996 found there were 22 computers per second-level school. Not only are there not enough computers, but it's a fair bet that many of them are obsolete by now too.

Last week the the Minister for Education and Science, Micheal Martin, said he envisaged schools would have 40,000 computers - one for every classroom - by 2001, still well short of the report's recommendations.

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INTO general secretary Joe O'Toole says every one of the 20,000 primary classrooms should have at least two or three computers with modems and printers. He estimates that, with teacher training, this would initially cost £70 million - 10 per cent of the total primary school budget - and a further £17 million a year for a rolling replacement scheme.

Schools need current generation computers, says O'Toole. He rejects schemes where industry gives obsolete equipment to schools saying, "I'm sick and tired of second-hand cast-offs."

The ASTI also wants new equipment. It calls for "the ready availability of equipment to all students and teachers." Assistant general secretary Moira Leydon says: "Teachers are frustrated. At parent-teacher meetings, teachers are being asked `How are you fixed for IT?' Students often have to wait until Transition Year, but parents are demanding more." Like the INTO, the ASTI also calls for additional training so teachers know how to make the most of IT potential.

But computers without networks are like cars without roads. Professor Vance Gledhill, of Trinity College's computer science department, says stand-alone PCs are not really of any value, except for cd-rom databases. He is calling for free access to the Internet for everyone.

"About 85 per cent of Internet access cost is the telephone costs," he says. "The cost of maintenance of a telephone line is less than the cost of maintenance of a road, but we don't pay to drive down the N11." Telecom Eireann must provide schools with more than just a phone line for Internet access, which, he adds, should be free and unlimited.

Telecom Eireann says schools are unlikely to get unlimited free Internet access, and has so far not specified how many schools will get phone lines and high-speed ISDN lines. However, under its £10 million scheme, schools will get free line installation and rental, a free multimedia PC and a website for teachers to get curriculum information and share information.

The ASTI echoes the call for free Internet access all day so that adult evening classes and teachers can benefit too. In Britain, BT recently offered schools 10 hours a day Internet access using ISDN lines for £790 a year, but usage after 6 p.m. will be charged at regular business rates.

Another part of the picture is the Internet service provider (ISP), which provides email addresses and space for pages on the World-Wide Web. Ireland On-Line, the largest ISP, offers free accounts to schools, but students and teachers cannot get individual email addresses under this scheme. Telecom Eireann's Tinet will also offer free accounts for schools, but has not considered individual email accounts for teachers or pupils as this has not yet been raised by teachers.

Schools must also pay to install and maintain networks connecting computers to each other. Moira Leydon says some large schools already have big networks which require an in-house expert. If this is left to a teacher, network problems often cause interruptions during classes, highlighting the need for full-time network administrators.

There is also a need for educational software. The ASTI's submission to the Department's information society steering group last December highlighted the need for software relevant to the Irish curriculum. An ASTI spokesperson cited history, geography and Irish language as subjects which would require software not found in other countries.

On the issue of Internet pornography, INTO's Joe O'Toole says: "I was brought up in the era of Lady Chatterley's Lover," he says. "This is not an issue for the Internet alone - it's part of a much wider problem."

Meanwhile, all concerned are eagerly awaiting the Department's policy framework, said to be due for release in the next couple of weeks.