The Government is to invest nearly €250 million in computers and information technology for schools as part of the National Development Plan (NDP) to be formally launched tomorrow.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin is also set to launch a detailed strategy for information and communications technologies (ICT) in schools within months.
The ICT commitment comes after years of under-investment in technology in schools - only €2.3 million was given to schools for IT equipment last year.
The Republic has one of the lowest rates of ICT usage in education in the developed world.
Twenty per cent of computers in schools cannot be used, while 50 per cent are at least four years old, according to a recent study by the National Council for Technology in Education.
The package will also provide dedicated funding for teacher training and maintenance support.
Support for educational investment is set to be one of the key elements of the NDP. Other features include:
more than €800 million will be provided to allow the current €3 billion five-year programme for school buildings to be extended to seven years;
a new programme of capital investment at third level, with most funding earmarked for the university sector, and
new research programmes will be supported as part of the new science and innovation strategy.
The new ICT investment is designed to develop an e-learning culture in schools. Efforts to build a strategy for schools have been damaged by the on-off nature of funding in the past decade.
The council for technology survey of almost 100,000 school computers also found that 11 per cent were beyond repair and another 11 per cent needed to be upgraded. Almost 30 per cent are more than six years old.
The new Hanafin plan means there will be dedicated funding rolled out from 2007 to 2013. Additional ICT funding will also be available through the school building and modernisation programme and teacher education initiatives.
INTO general secretary John Carr welcomed "this badly needed" investment. "Every pupil should be able to benefit from the advantages technology brings to education and this investment could make a real difference."
