Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2020
298. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Education and Skills if exceptional payments will be provided for schools to purchase laptops and-or tablets to enable students learning online in anticipation of restrictions on attendance in the 2020/2021 school year. [12656/20]
View answerAs part of the implementation of the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 - Enhancing Teaching, Learning and Assessment, €210m of a commitment for funding for ICT Infrastructure has been made by my Department. This is being distributed annually to primary and second level schools over the five years of the Strategy. €160m has issued to date including funding of €50m for the current school year., A final instalment of €50m from the €210m funding commitment is due to issue in respect of the 2020-2021 school, subject to availability of exchequer funding. This funding can be used for schools to provide for ICT infrastructure in accordance with the school's Digital Learning Plan and can also be used for the provision of devices to support the continuity of teaching and learning,as required.
The €50m grant for 2019/20 included €10m ICT top-up funding to assist schools to support students at risk of educational disadvantage due to school closures under the Covid-19 public health emergency. Schools have been asked to use this funding to address situations where students are disadvantaged in their engagement with the schools remote teaching and learning due to lack of access to digital devices. Schools are best placed to determine how best to address the requirements of their pupil/student cohort and will have autonomy to do so, within the criteria applying to this funding.
Resources to support the transition to distant learning have been developed by the Department's support service, the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and are available 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.
The Department is continuing to engage with the education partners on planning arrangements for the reopening of schools in accordance with the measures included in the national roadmap for reopening society and all decisions on how schools are to reopen will be informed by relevant public health advice.
