Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The priority for my Department and the wider schools sector is to re-open our schools as fully and safely at the start of the new school year. The interests of students and their families, as well as the safety of staff in our schools, are at the centre of our work as we consider the various challenges associated with that aim. The re-opening of our schools will be guided by the available public health advice and comprehensive engagement with stakeholders including the school management bodies and staff representatives as well as students and parents. The plan for the safe re-opening of schools developed in consultation with stakeholders has been approved by Cabinet and is now published outlining the extensive information and supports available to support the re-opening of schools in September.

While it is expected that there will be a full re-opening of schools by September, schools will need to prepare for situations where there may be a need to provide for pupils or students who cannot attend school for health reasons related to Covid-19, or a situation where a school may be faced with closure (in whole or in part) for a period during which the curriculum will need to be delivered remotely. Responsibility for ensuring that such learners receive appropriate support to engage adequately with learning remains with the school in which they are enrolled. Regular and ongoing communication between school and home will be essential to support engagement with learning and continuous connection with classmates and school community.  Additional supports will be provided for these learners from within the staffing resources of the school. Schools will have discretion to manage and redistribute their support resources in order to best meet the learning needs of their pupils and students, including those at very high risk due to COVID-19.

Resources to support schools and teachers to the transition to distant learning using technology, including blended learning approaches, are being provided by the Department support service, the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST), at .

As part of the implementation of the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 - Enhancing Teaching, Learning and Assessment, funding of €210m for ICT Infrastructure will be distributed by my Department to primary and second level schools over the five years of the Strategy. To date €160m of this funding has issued to schools including €50m which issued earlier this year. In the context of the current public health crisis this funding can be focussed on assisting schools to address ICT needs including devices, software and other ICT solutions to support the provision of remote learning.  This may include the purchase of ICT devices that can be shared with learners who do not have access to devices, essential learning platforms and other ICT infrastructure to support the provision of remote learning.  Under the €40m ICT grant funding, DEIS schools receive an additional 10% on the per capita amount issued relative to non-DEIS schools. Under the issue of €10m. DEIS schools were allocated an additional 10% relative to non-DEIS schools to support their students to engage with online learning and educational resources. Schools are best placed to determine the requirements of their school community and so the funding issues to schools.

An additional €50m will issue to schools during the forthcoming school year 2020-2021 subject to the availability of exchequer funding.

Through the Schools Broadband Access Programme my Department provides for the supply of internet connectivity for all recognised primary and post primary schools, and some 98% of schools are included in this scheme. All post-primary schools and some special schools are now included in the High Speed Broadband programme. The primary broadband scheme is based on locally available infrastructure accessed by the providers of the service to the Department.  The Department of Climate Action, Communications Networks and Transport is responsible for the enhanced provision of broadband through the National Broadband and State Intervention Plan. My Department continues to liaise with the  Department of Climate Action, Communication Networks and Transport to seek to improve broadband connectivity for primary schools and to raise issues of barriers to connectivity impacting access to remoter learning.

During the current COVID crisis my colleague, Minister Bruton, announced a package of additional supports from the telecom companies including that access to healthcare and educational resource websites identified by the Government will be zero-rated for all customers where technically feasible. The Telecommunications industry has also introduced update for data limits for consumers to assist their customers during the Covid-19 crisis to access online services without exceeding their data limits.

My Department and our education partners are committed to addressing the various challenges facing the re-opening of schools and is also committed to full and comprehensive communication with schools, teachers, students and parents so that they are fully informed about the plans for reopening schools for the next school year.