Written answers

Wednesday, 22 September 2021

Department of Education and Skills

Educational Disadvantage

Photo of Michael RingMichael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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99. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the assistance available to a DEIS school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45405/21]

Photo of Norma FoleyNorma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Currently investment of some €13m is allocated annually for the provision of internet connectivity to schools through my Department's School Broadband Access Programme. As you will be aware, broadband capacity can vary across geographical locations and is dependent on local infrastructure which can impact on the service that can be provided in individual schools.

The school referred to by the Deputy currently has a private broadband connection having opted to not avail of a connection through the Schools Broadband Programme, however if the school is interested in re-joining the programme the school should record their request with the Schools Broadband Service Desk to be included in the next available tender for broadband services to schools. At that point it can be determined what the best level of connectivity available will be. The Broadband service desk is the Department's dedicated broadband service desk which is managed by the Professional Development Service for Teachers - Technology in Education (PDST-TiE). They can be contacted by phoning 1800334466 or by emailing broadbandservicedesk@pdst.ie.

My Department spends just over €150 million annually to provide a suite of supports to schools in the DEIS programme, of which €16.2 million, in the form of a DEIS grant was allocated to schools ahead of schedule for the 2020/21 school year. This is an annual grant to support learning in the context of DEIS for the academic year. In recognition of the difficulties faced by some students to engage with remote learning, at the time the grant issued last year all DEIS schools were informed by letter that they could consider using some of their DEIS funding to support pupils’ learning, for example to arrange access to additional materials of supports for students during the move to remote teaching and learning caused by Covid-19. It is a matter for each individual school to determine how best to use this funding, but it is intended to support the objectives of the DEIS programme.

My Department provided €100m in grant funding to recognised primary, special and post-primary schools to address their ICT needs during 2020, the final issue of funding under the €210m investment programme underpinning the implementation of the Digital Strategy for Schools. This included €50m in respect of the 2020-2021 school year brought forward and issued in December 2020. Schools were advised that they could use this funding to support the continuity of teaching and learning during the pandemic. Funding is paid to DEIS schools at a higher rate than non DEIS. The funding is intended to enable schools to implement their Digital Learning Plan through provision of appropriate infrastructure. This includes Desktop PCs, laptops, tablets or hybrid devices, projectors/flat screens, cloud-based tools and software applications, and learning platforms.

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