Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 June 2020
171. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education and Skills if additional provision will be made for online access and access to devices for teachers and students; if an element of schooling will take place remotely after September 2020; and the strategies he has for tackling the digital divide beyond the additional funding already provided (details supplied). [10183/20]
View answerAs part of the implementation of the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 Enhancing Teaching Learning and Assessment, funding of €210m for ICT Infrastructure will be distributed to schools over the five years of the Strategy. €110m has issued over the lifetime of the strategy to date with €40m recently issuing in the form of a grant payment to all eligible schools and a further €10m top-up funding issued to all schools to enable schools to support any of their students experiencing difficulty in engaging with remote learning.
In the context of the current public health crisis the funding can be focussed on assisting schools to address ICT needs including devices, software and other ICT solutions to support the provision of remote learning. This can include the purchase of ICT devices that can be shared with students who do not have access to devices, essential learning platforms and other ICT infrastructure to support the provision of remote learning.
Since the announcement that schools would close and the extension of that closure, my Department has provided guidance to schools and teachers in the education sector to ensure that they continue to work and to engage with their students to continue the delivery of education. A series of guidance notes to support schools to effectively support and engage with their students are published on my Department's website at: https://www.education.ie/en/covid-19/#guidance. Further guidance will continue to be compiled to address the various challenges that arise for schools in providing programmes of continued learning in the remote learning environment and to accommodate blended learning solutions if required. Various surveys and studies has conducted across the education system has informed the development of guidance.
Resources to support the transition to distant learning are being provided by the Department support service, the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST), at https://www.pdst.ie/DistanceLearning. Scoilnet the Department’s educational portal has open access to a wide variety of resources and information developed by various services including: the PDST, Junior Cycle for Teachers (JCT), the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), the National Council for Special Education. These resources can all be accessed at https://www.scoilnet.ie/support/. Scoilnet also provides open access to extensive educational resources including Worldbook Online, at www.scoilnet.ie
Schools have been asked to be conscious of students who may not have access to online facilities or where digital approaches may not be appropriate and to consider this actively in their approaches to provision of remote learning. As part of reopening of society roadmap and the lifting of current restrictions, school and college buildings are now opened for access by teachers for the organisation and distribution of remote learning in line with public health advice and restrictions and essential work that cannot be done remotely with continued observance of public health guidelines.
Officials in my Department have liaised with colleagues in the DCCAE to raise the issue of barriers to connectivity impacting access to remote learning. Minister Bruton has announced a package of additional supports from the telecoms companies including that access to healthcare and educational resource websites identified by the Government will be zero-rated for all customers where technically feasible. The Telecommunications industry has also introduced update for data limits for consumers to assist their customers during the Covid-19 to access online services without exceeding their data limits.
My Department is supporting a pilot initiative, under which Cisco and IBM are providing support directly to schools to operate the WebEx platform. This facilitates schools, with no alternative capability, with a collaborative platform to enable them engage with their students and staff.
My Department will continue to work with the education partners to address challenges and provide solutions in areas where digital remote learning options may not be possible, and will continue to provide guidance to schools at this time.
