The Irish Second-Level students’ Union (ISSU) has shared their frustration with the allocation of nine million Euro in the recent Budget that was reserved for mobile phone pouches.
The new proposal ‘Keeping Children Phone Free’ is supposed to launch in 2025. Minister for Education Norma Foley shared her reasoning for funding phone pouches, stating “We’re playing a leadership role here in schools. We’re ensuring that students do have a break from the mobile phone. We’re recognising that they can bring the phone to school during the day, there is no access”.
ISSU is the national representative body for second-level school students in the Republic of Ireland”. The ISSU Uachtarán (President) Jack McGinn compares this sum of money to the “Capitation Funding for schools that covers heating and lighting costs is merely €10 million.”
He shares the effects of this that will extend to families, as schools will be “forced to rely on Voluntary Contribution Fees to cover the funding shortfall that was not addressed in this Budget”.
While, McGinn appreciates the allocation of money towards the delivery of free books to Senior Cycle Students in the new Budget, he believes that the money spent on phone pouches gives the “sense that the Department of Education was out of touch with the needs of schools on the ground”.
He urges the school system to reallocate the money to facilities such as “school buildings, additional SNA and teaching posts, the DEIS Plus scheme and Capitation Funding for schools”. McGinn also expresses that this investment was unnecessary as many schools already have systems in place for students to minimise student’s use of phones throughout the school day.
