Local schools join information superhighway

Six local schools receive state of the art multimedia computers

By Thomas Felle

LIBERTIES schools have entered the information superhighway, thanks to a joint initiative between a local college, the Government and computer firm Siemens.

An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern launched the Dublin Inner City Schools Computerisation Project (DISC) on Monday, February.

Pupils from schools including St Enda’s in Whitefriar Street, James’s Street CBS, Synge Street CBS, Liberties College in Bull Alley Street, Presentation Convent, Warrenmount and CBS Francis Street will benefit from the project.

DISC gives multimedia computers to schools over a three-year period, to enable students to learn through the medium of computers.

St Enda’s National School in Whitefriar Street got six computers. "We were able to set up the beginning of a computer room in our school, which will enable us to teach educational software to children. It is hopefully the start of a fully operational computer room for us," said Principal, Mary Marren.

At the launch, An Taoiseach said it was an accepted fact that computers are an excellent educational tool which can act as a very useful method of engaging and maintaining the attention of students. "It is also now essential to have computer skills when seeking employment both at home and abroad", added the Taoiseach.

DISC plans to develop a model to act as a national guideline, as well as looking at involving local communities and parents in computer education.

A resource training centre for the south inner city schools will be set up at Francis Street CBS and will offer information tecnholgy (IT) support to the schools on an on-going basis.

Under the project, teachers will be given relevant IT training to allow students to develop a high standard of educational and computer literacy skills through special educational software.

The project was a joint initiative between Siemens, The Dublin Institute of Technology, who co-ordinated the project, The Department of Education and the Dublin Inner City Partnership.