in politics timing is everything

on new year's day the into, the union representing ireland's primary school teachers, came out and blasted education minister mary hanafin for her record on investing in technology for schools. in a statement general secreatry john carr called for the department to publish its plan on how it was going to spend the €252 million earmarked in the national development plan for tech in schools.

“We have one of the lowest rates of ICT usage in education in the developed world,” said Mr Carr. “This is unsurprising given that one in five of all school computers are clapped out.”

yesterday the telecoms and internet federation released a statement that 98 per cent of schools now have broadband as a result of an €18 million initiative between industry and the government begun a number of years ago. in it mary hanafin talks up the importance of technology in education (the release is not yet online):

"ICT in the classroom is important, both in terms of giving students the opportunity to achieve computer literacy and acquire the necessary skills for participation in the Information Society, and in terms of enhancing the educational experience across the broad range of subjects taught in schools. The Schools Broadband Access Programme is a fundamental building block in ensuring that ICT usage becomes embedded in teaching and learning in our schools."

just coincidence these two press releases were issued within two weeks of each other? certainly many in the technology industry feel that mrs hanafin is prioritising special needs and school buildings at the expense of technology investments and they are questioning why we can't have both.

Comments

[Paul M. Watson]

I love technical terms like "clapped out" ;)

Poor state of affairs in education for a country that realises it has to base itself on the knowledge economy in the future.