Sir, - I am sure I echo everyone's congratulations to Susan Flannery on winning the award as Young Scientist of the Year for her project on encription of computer messages.
I read that the judges had to draft in additional expertise to assess her project. No wonder, when what they were expecting to judge were scientific projects broadly based on current school curricula.
Can the Minister for Education explain why schools still treat computer studies as a discretionary, part-time "subject". Surely, in this ever-increasing technological world, it should not be left for pupils to rely in many cases on the relative wealth of their school as to what exposure they may have to modern computer equipment and technology? - Yours, etc.,
Redmond McAuliffe, Manor Heath, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.