Louis J. Belton
Ceist:90 Mr. Belton asked the Minister for Education and Science the current level of pupils per computer in schools in Ireland; and the way in which this compares with other countries in the OECD. [21714/97]
Written Answers. - Computerisation Programme.
My Department does not have precise data on the current level of pupils per computer in Ireland.
In 1994-95, however, the number of pupils per computer at first and second levels was estimated at 100 and 32 respecitively.
Comparative data for other OECD countries for broadly the same period reveal a wide variation between different countries e.g. there was an overall average, for first and second-level combined, of 50 pupils per computer in Germany and Japan while in France and the Netherlands there was 33 pupils per computer.
The Deputy should note that such comparisons can be misleading in that they do not include information on the computing power or age of the equipment. Some of the equipment referred to could be up quite old and of limited capability.
In launching the schools It 2000 programmes, I established a minimum target of havng 60,000 computer systems in place in our schools within the next three years. All of these will be multimedia-capable. The programme will greatly improve the ratio of pupils per multimedia computer system in Ireland.