Trinity and Camara Ireland have launched phase two of the award-winning Tech2Students project, which will be completed on a nationwide basis.
Trinity Access Office and Camera Ireland developed Tech2Students in April, in response to the heightened digital divide in DEIS schools due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Phase one of the project raised over €300,000 and delivered over 1,000 devices to DEIS schools. As students may need to self-isolate throughout the year, there is a much higher demand for the capacity to deliver education digitally, a demand which many schools struggle to meet.
Phase two of the project is asking businesses to donate used laptops or Chromebooks, or to give a financial donation to the project. Financial donations will be used to purchase refurbished laptops for students who need them.
After phase one concluded, there were still over 60 schools and community organisations in need of digital devices.
Students in Direct Provision and adult learners in marginalised communities have been identified as some of the groups which experience the divide most harshly, while in DEIS schools some 58 per cent of students do not have access to adequate broadband or digital devices.
In September, Tech2Students received the Innovate Together Award from the social innovation fund Rethink Ireland which allows the project to deliver 3,000 devices to vulnerable communities nationwide within the framework of the National Access Plan.
The digital divide is also a serious problem in third-level education.
In August, Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris announced that up to 17,000 laptops will be distributed to third-level students to assist with online learning.
The devices have been secured with a fund for student devices worth €15 million, which comes as part of the €168 million package for third-level institutions and students, announced in late July. The package was intended to help third-level institutions cover costs incurred during the coronavirus pandemic and to support students returning to college in September.
In a press statement in August, Harris said: “This new academic year will mean many students will be attending courses online and will need access to devices. This investment will allow us to help 16,700 students access laptops and will ensure they can keep up to date with their studies.”
Harris said that “we still have significant work to do to address the digital divide in Ireland but this will go some of the way to doing that”.
Institutions are distributing the devices via targeted lending schemes. The Student Access Offices will oversee this in the higher education sector. In the further education and training sector, the Education and Training Board (ETB) management will oversee it.
