Parents Required To Pay €700 For School Laptops
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What is the school’s new laptop requirement for 5th‑year students?
The Claire Byrne Show on News Talk with
Aviva Insurance.
Now in Collage to Ana School in Rathfarnham in Dublin, parents of fifth year students are being told to buy individual laptops for their children at the cost of seven hundred euro. A number of parents have raised concerns over both the cost and how this will impact the students on both an educational and a psychological level. One of those speaking out about it is Pamela Freeman and she joins me in the studio. Hello, Pamela. Hi
Claire. So
how how did all this come about? When did you first hear about the laptops?
It would have been at a meeting back in February, a two minutes um throwaway statement that we're looking at possible laptops, we'll keep you informed. And then on the twenty seventh of May, two days before the school closed We were called in for an information meeting and we were told basically that the lads were getting laptops, Wriggle were were the company that were going to do it. The cost was going to be seven hundred roughly. Um they're bringing in for three years um in the school. which would be roughly four hundred students and there will be a monthly payment then to keep things running and the kids have no choice. There's a monthly payment as well. Yeah, for insurance and things like that. So for example, if it breaks or it goes missing
Um
so were you told that you had to go to this company? You can't just go up to your local
they had a credit union there on the night as well which really galled me so that if anybody had an issue with getting the money, Heritage Credit Union were there and they provide a loan to parents.
So what was the response then from parents to this um in the aftermath of that meeting in May?
Okay, well there'd be two sides. Some of them were very proud. And you know, the money wasn't an issue. But there are others. who where money wouldn't have been an issue were concerned about different things like how this was going to affect the kids' handwriting skills. Um, PISA is one of these things they use for assessing kids all over Europe and it's already been proven. Tush. kids in maths, science and literacy.
How did parents first learn about the €700 laptop and the meeting timeline?
the scores were going down and countries like Finland, Sweden, etcetera are reversing back. to traditional methods. They're going away from the laptop because it's not working. And is that where your like where are your concerns founded? Well my concerns are Our la my lad is in fifth year. He's going to be doing a normal written. Leaving cert. Handwriting skills are slowing down. I had another lad do his leave and cert this year and he struggled to finish some of the papers. Because of speed with the handwriting and it wasn't just mine, that's a big problem. So handwriting skills are going to be less and less 'cause the homework is going to be done on the laptops. They're using screens more and more. We're trying to get kids away from screens.
There's no policy around how this will be handled if somebody is um unsure of something or um what way I would be worried about things like social media access, saying derogatory things, your digital football because the kids don't understand. If you say something
It's not a restricted laptop, is it? You can access whatever. Okay, we asked the Department of Education about it. They said there's no department requirement for students to purchase or own a personal digital device for junior or leaving service. So it's not coming from them. The minister wrote to all schools and boards of management to make this clear and to ask schools to fully consider the views of all parents and guardians, as well as cost and equity implications before introducing any approach involving digital services.
What are the detailed costs, payment plans, and insurance fees attached to the laptops?
So this is clearly a decision that has been made by your school to do this. So the department is saying really y you need to have a conversation with the school. You've done that, you've and you've tried to do that and you're still doing it. I've
tried to do that. I've had numerous emails um sent backwards and forwards. I've attached all the research. I've attached the pros and cons.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the school’s new laptop requirement for 5th‑year students?
0:01–2:14
2
How did parents first learn about the €700 laptop and the meeting timeline?
2:14–3:39
3
What are the detailed costs, payment plans, and insurance fees attached to the laptops?
3:39–4:44
4
How did parents react – who supported the laptops and who opposed them?
4:44–6:07
5
What concerns are raised about handwriting, screen time, and academic performance?
6:07–6:59
6
What did the Department of Education say about mandatory personal devices?
6:59–8:14
7
What financing options, credit‑union loans, and fundraising ideas were discussed?
8:14–8:16