6th Dec 2021: €50M ICT Grants to support students most at risk of educational disadvantage through the digital divide.
9th December 2021
The Department of Education has announced €50m in funding as part of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) under Next Generation EU funding facility to invest in digital infrastructure to support students who are most at risk of educational disadvantage through the digital divide. Funding will be paid directly to all recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme. As part of this measure, schools in the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme will receive double the amount of funding provided to non-DEIS schools. Full information on the rates applying and the criteria and conditions attaching to this funding can be found in the Department of Education’s circular 0060-2021.
The Press Release is available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/d9805-minister-foley-announces-issue-of-50-million-funding-to-primary-and-post-primary-schools-to-address-the-digital-divide-under-irelands-national-recovery-and-resilience-plan/
The Circular 0060-2021 is available at: https://www.gov.ie/en/circular/b4fea-grant-scheme-for-eu-nrrp-funding-to-schools-to-address-the-digital-divide-and-learners-at-risk-of-educational-disadvantage/
Minister Foley said: “All of our children and young people must be prepared to learn, work and live in a digital world. This scheme builds on existing funding commitments from national funds and will provide for advances in the two important areas of enhanced digital infrastructure for schools and addressing learners at risk of educational disadvantage through the digital divide by providing funding to schools.
“School communities made incredible strides in digital teaching and learning during the pandemic. An enormous effort was made by teachers and students, and a huge amount has been learned. We know also that for some students a lack of infrastructure impeded their ability to engage with remote learning. This digital divide will also impact their capacity to engage fully with digital technology and development of digital skills.
“As we move beyond this phase, we need to acknowledge the great effort and progress made. The enhanced investment under the NRRP will advance greatly the efforts to ensure that technology and infrastructure is in place to support teaching and learning in the classroom across all schools and ensure inclusion of all learners.”
Digital Learning Planning
Information on Digital Learning Planning for schools can be found at www.pdsttechnologyineducation/ie/planning and through the dedicated www.dlplanning.ie website which has been developed to support schools to embed digital technologies into teaching, learning and assessment.
ICT Guidance and information
ICT advice on suitable technologies can be found here.
If schools have specific queries in relation to ICT advice these queries can be emailed to ictadvice@pdst.ie
