High speed broadband in the classroom

The €30 million, three-year, high speed broadband connection roll out for all post primary schools in the country brings huge benefits, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan and Communications Minister, Alex White have stressed.

This equates to 780 school locations, including all post-primary schools, as well as special and hospital schools, 19 of which are in Clare. The 19 Clare schools now have 100 Mbps broadband connections, which will serve as a catalyst for the further integration of ICT and digital skills in the classroom.

The broadband programme, which represents one of the most ambitious technology roll-outs to the Irish education sector in recent times, was delivered within budget and a highly challenging three year schedule, the ministers said in a joint statement at the lormal launch in Dublin.

It was completed in collaboration with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Department of Education and Skills.

The national roll-out followed a successful pilot phase of the programme in 2010 when a first tranche of 78 schools nationwide were connected to the HEAnet network. A decision to expand the programme to all 780 schools was announced by Government in February of 2012.

The national reach of the programme has required the building of new infrastructure in locations where there was extremely limited high-speed broadband availability up until now. For example, under this programme 100 Mbps broadband is provided to school communities on four separate islands off the coasts of Galway and Donegal.