Technology is the key to our future
Anybody who cares for the future of Irish education must extend an enthusiastic welcome to the announcement by Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte yesterday that every secondary school in the country must have industrial-speed broadband for interactive teaching in two and half years.
Mr Rabbitte made certain to let everybody know that he had to fight hard for funds for the project. That is extraordinary. Can anybody at the Cabinet table fail to recognise that keeping up to date is absolutely vital for our economic as well as our intellectual success -- and that we have already lost out by unnecessary delays?
In the event, the current scheme, jointly funded by the Departments of Communications and Education, is estimated to cost a mere €40m. That looks like very good value in view of the immense importance of the project.
We have to bring about a situation in which every second-level student can participate fully in online and interactive learning. Studies show that this improves the teaching process. It also, and vitally, prepares the pupils for a working life radically different from anything their parents knew or could have known.
As Mr Rabbitte remarked yesterday: "It is absolutely essential in terms of the digital economy, in terms of the knowledge economy, that we put this investment in at this schooling stage." Exactly right. In the classroom as in the workplace, the future lies in advanced technology. We have seen the future, and we had better climb on board without any further delay.
