Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the provision of computers for students at secondary level in this State is well below the OECD average; and the measures he proposes to take to remedy this situation. [9804/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The OECD report to which the Deputy refers is based on an international survey of second level schools carried out in the period November 2001 to May 2002 across 17 OECD countries. Some 255 Irish school principals participated in the survey. While the survey portrays Irish second level schools as having an average pupil-computer ratio of 13 to 1 substantial additional funding has been provided for schools' ICT since the survey was undertaken resulting in further reductions in pupil-computer ratios in Irish schools.

In late 2002-early 2003, the National Centre for Technology in Education conducted a full census of schools' ICT infrastructure on behalf of my Department, a key finding of which was that the average pupil-computer ratio in second level schools had fallen to 9.4 to 1.

While significant progress has been made in providing ICT access and support to teachers and students in schools, there is still some way to go before ICT is fully integrated in the teaching and learning process. My Department is preparing a new strategic plan which will address a range of issues aimed at enhancing the potential of ICT for the benefit of both teacher and learner, including: provision of networked computer facilities in schools; broadband Internet access for every school in the country; teacher training and support programmes focused on practical ICT applications in the classroom; advancement of ICT as a central teaching and learning tool across the curriculum; development of quality digital content for use in the curriculum; promoting a participative e-learning environment within the school; industry/school collaboration on ICT issues; and evaluating the impact of ICT at school level. I will be announcing details of the new policy plan in the near future.