School management body criticises primary school ICT grants
The Catholic Primary School Managers Association (CPSMA) says the funding, which landed in school bank accounts today, amounts to €25.33 per pupil in a mainstream class, compared to €39.73 received per pupil last year.
However, the Department of Education and Youth has denied that this represents a cut in funding.
€35 million in school ICT funding this year was announced last week. It is part of €200 million committed to digital learning in schools under the National Development Plan, to be spent by 2027.
A spokesperson for the Department said the NDP commitment did not guarantee a specific amount in each year. "To date, a total of €100 million of the €200 million committed for in the NDP for the strategy has issued to schools through the ICT grant," they said.
"It is anticipated that issuing €35m in 2025, as announced this week, will enable the balance of €65m remaining to issue to schools over the remaining years of the current strategy to 2027," the spokesperson said.
However, the CPSMA said that schools were not told that the amount to be paid this year would be considerably less than that paid last year. It says schools had budgeted on the basis that they would receive the same amount of funding this year as last.
CPSMA General Secretary Seamus Mulconry said the lower amounts had come as "an incredibly unpleasant surprise" to schools struggling to make ends meet as the school year comes to an end.
He said schools had been anticipating this funding and relying on it as "a much needed injection".
"If primary schools were not already underfunded this would not be as big a problem for them," he added.
The disparity between last year's payment and this year's for pupils in mainstream schools amounts to a reduction of 36%. For pupils in disadvantaged schools the gap is 38.5%.
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