Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 June 2004
60 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the EU is proposing spending €10 million of EU funds for purposes such as improving digital literacy and upgrading the digital infrastructure over the 2000-06 period; his views on whether more funds should be invested in this area; and his further views on the gaps in digital literacy in the State. [19278/04]
View answerDigital literacy programmes in Ireland are the primary responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science. However, my Department, together with the Department of Education and Science, is co-operating on an innovative and radical public private partnership venture under which it is proposed to transform the information and communications technology serving all Irish primary and post primary schools.
Earlier this year the Minister for Education and Science and I reached agreement with IBEC for the establishment of a three year, €18 million joint Government-telecommunications industry fund to resource the provision of high speed broadband connectivity to all first and second level schools nationwide. The case for such provision is compelling, particularly with regard to improving and ensuring the quality of the education experience; access to global information sources; the possibilities of communication and collaboration between school communities, at home and abroad; a seamless transition from second to third level education; the skills required for competitiveness of the economy; and the inclusion of geographically remote schools.
The conclusion and implementation of such an agreement will enhance Ireland's ability to meet its Lisbon Agenda objectives, and will drive demand and deployment of broadband technologies and ICTs within the wider community.
Under the proposed agreement, private telecommunications companies will contribute €15 million, that is, €5 million per annum, to a joint Government-IBEC-TIF fund of €18 million. This fund will be used to provide broadband connectivity to all schools over a three year period. The Government contribution of €3 million will be funded from departmental allocations.
A prior information notice has been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, which effectively initiates the public tendering process. The target is to award contract(s) to successful bidders in November 2004 and to complete roll out by September 2005.
The strategy will include the development of a centrally managed national schools broadband network. This network will link the broadband connectivity provided to all schools to a central point. The development of the network is a key recommendation of the Datanet International report commissioned by the Department of Education and Science and is the practice in a number of European countries. This approach offers a number of distinct advantages including central provision of content filtering, virus scanning, firewall and intrusion detection services for all schools allowing for significant cost economies and enhanced security; centralised network utilisation monitoring for rapid fault rectification and increases in schools bandwidth as required; facilitating schools in communicating with each other directly — in effect, using the schools network as a virtual private network; allowing for the provision of webmail accounts for all schools, teachers and pupils in the State; central hosting and delivery of curriculum-related digital content and applications; and allowing for onward connectivity to education networks in the US, Europe Asia and the rest of the world.
The Minister for Education and Science also intends to establish a national help desk facility that will provide advice and support to schools on connectivity, troubleshooting and other technical issues facing schools operating ever more complex ICT processes. This will seek to ensure that such issues do not become impediments to effective integration of ICT in schools.
By facilitating multi-user access to a wide range of multimedia applications through the Internet, much faster download of educational content and enhanced communications between school communities, the provision of broadband to the classroom will greatly enhance the potential of ICT in teaching and learning in schools. It is critical, however, that this resource is used effectively for the benefit of the learner. This will require a coherent integrated strategy across a range of issues including equipment provision and maintenance in schools, technical support and advice, enhancement of teacher skills and best practice in ICT applications, curriculum development, access to quality digital content for learning and fostering an e-learning culture within schools.
The Minister for Education and Science is considering proposals for a new strategic action plan for ICT integration in schools that will address these issues and build on developments to date. He intends to announce his plans in this regard in the near future.
