A Trinity scheme will see 450 laptops donated to Dublin secondary students unable to attend school due to the coronavirus crisis.
The Tech2Students programme – launched in April and run by Trinity Access, AIB, ESB and charity Camara Ireland – will see the laptops delivered to schools in greater Dublin over the coming fortnight, as students prepare for an unprecedented leaving certificate this summer.
The programme aims to deliver 1,000 repurposed devices to students’ homes by the middle of May, amid a technological struggle for schools adapting to online learning.
Members of the public are donating both funds to purchase laptops and disused laptops that can be refurbished and distributed to students.
In some schools, half of students don’t have access to a device to continue their learning at home, according to AIB CEO Colin Hunt.
In a press statement, Dr Cliona Hannon, the director of Trinity Access, said the aim of the programme is to ensure “no student experiences a digital divide that impacts on their education”.
Hunt added: “This campaign aims to get affordable, repurposed devices to students as soon as possible.”
The Tech4Students initiative began in Trinity in association with the charity Camara Education Ireland and is supported by ESB.
In April, when the programme was established, Hannon said students are doing their best to continue with their education through this difficult time and those without access to a laptop are at a particular disadvantage.”
“We believe students and teachers in our partner schools are willing to take on the challenges of remote teaching and learning but they urgently need the right hardware now”, Hannon said. “This can either be old devices we can repurpose or contributions to enable us to buy laptops.”
Camara Education is an international nonprofit organisation that aims to use technology to improve education in low-income communities.
Its CEO, Marianne Checkley, said: “We believe no student should be at an educational disadvantage due to the Coronavirus pandemic.”
“Our overall goal”, she said, “is to get Tech2Students operational across Ireland to assist all those Leaving Cert students who urgently need technology at this crucial time in their education”.
Correction: 16:09, May 5th, 2020
Due to inaccurate information contained in a press statement from Trinity, an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that “affordable ” laptops were being made available to secondary students. It also said the programme had received government funding. In fact, the laptops are being donated free to students, and the project has not received funding from the Department of Education.
