[Fsfe-ie] Meeting this evening

Ben North ben at redfrontdoor.org
Tue Nov 17 14:05:32 CET 2009


> As usual, this being the third Tuesday, we will be upstairs in the
> Longstone from 8pm.

I'd have one agendum:

   http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1116/education.html   [text copied below]

describes how the government is going to give a pile of money to schools
for computers.  I think IFSO should write to somebody urging the use of
Free Software as part of this initiative.  Describe some successful
deployments of Free Software in schools (no doubt we can find lots of
case studies on the web), the educational benefits of knowing what's
going on 'inside' the computer, growing use within industry, etc., etc.
Not guaranteed to have a huge immediate effect, but will raise the
profile of Free Software within education.


------------------------------------------------------------------------


Computer boost for all schools

Monday, 16 November 2009 22:14

Every classroom in the country will get a teaching laptop and a digital
projector within the next three years as part of a EUR150m initiative.

Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe said the first step would see
EUR22m in grants given to primary schools before the end of the year.

Funding for post-primary schools will be made available early in the New
Year he said.

Fine Gael Education Spokesman Brian Hayes has expressed concerns that
money to fund the project may be coming from capital funding intended
for school buildings, which the Department of Education has not yet
spent.

The grants were welcomed by Irish Primary Principals Network, but the
group insisted that more investment is needed.

In a statement, the IPPN said the EUR22m 'will do little to bridge the
technology gap that has developed in recent years between Irish schools
and our OECD neighbours.'

The group said that Ireland ranks 19th in the OECD league in relation to
the use of computers in classrooms.


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