Paul Lawless: Families Hit by €1,000 Laptop Bills
Paul Lawless warns that new compulsory ICT requirements have left families facing €1,000 laptop bills during a cost of living crisis. He accuses the Minister of imposing these costs without proper consultation and passing responsibility to school principals.
Paul Lawless outlines how the introduction of effectively mandatory ICT in schools has produced large bills for parents already struggling with rising grocery and fuel costs. He documents cases where families were told to buy brand new laptops from a single supplier, despite owning secondhand devices.
Lawless says the department ran ahead with radical curriculum changes at junior and senior cycle, adding continuous assessment without providing mechanisms for delivery. Principals are left to implement requirements they were not resourced or consulted about, generating inconsistent demands on parents.
The speech highlights fears among parents - shame, exclusion from school activities and the practical problem of children spending long days on devices. Lawless calls on the Minister to intervene, reverse mandatory purchasing practices and consult properly to protect hard-pressed families and school communities.
Key issue: Cost pressure on families
Paul Lawless outlines how the introduction of effectively mandatory ICT in schools has produced large bills for parents already struggling with rising grocery and fuel costs. He documents cases where families were told to buy brand new laptops from a single supplier, despite owning secondhand devices.
Policy and process failures
Lawless says the department ran ahead with radical curriculum changes at junior and senior cycle, adding continuous assessment without providing mechanisms for delivery. Principals are left to implement requirements they were not resourced or consulted about, generating inconsistent demands on parents.
Consequences and demands for intervention
The speech highlights fears among parents - shame, exclusion from school activities and the practical problem of children spending long days on devices. Lawless calls on the Minister to intervene, reverse mandatory purchasing practices and consult properly to protect hard-pressed families and school communities.
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Transcript
We are in a cost of living crisis. Groceries are up 40%. Diesel is up 60% over the past five years. And yet there is another bill landing every August on the families who send their children to school. And that bill now is an ICT bill. It is a bill for a laptop. And incredibly, last year you introduced free books. And this year you introduced effectively mandatory ICT at a cost that is significantly higher than the books ever were. Many families have contacted me and they've outlined bills of 1,000 euros for a laptop. And the same families came into my office and showed me secondhand laptops, laptops that the family already owned. And the school principals and the authorities are saying, no, no, they can't be used. You must purchase a brand new laptop from one specific supplier. And the truth is, Minister, that you created this problem. And now you have created a problem and you've passed the book over to the principals. And the principals are now trying to deliver a curriculum that was never designed in schools. Because the department and the officials did a solo run in relation to radically changing the curriculum at both junior cycle and senior cycle. You introduced a massive amount of continuous assessment without any provision as to how that continuous assessment will be delivered. And now principals are scratching their head, wondering how do we deliver all of this continuous assessment in an age where many children don't have personal laptops. So what they did is they sent out letters to families with 1,000 euros, 1,500 euro bills for laptops. And then I wrote to the minister and I asked the minister, can you make a statement on this? And the minister said that no child should be required to purchase a laptop. And yet the bills and the letters are still landing because the principals don't know what to do. So it is very, very clear to me, Minister, that you have essentially created a problem as a result of lack of consultation. And now who's paying the cost? The families, the hard-pressed families that are struggling with the cost of living. And it's a very similar situation to the school uniform, where we had single suppliers, single-crested uniforms, and these suppliers were often charging double what other suppliers were. And we have created the very same problem. And you've learned nothing. So you need to intervene here. I am dealing with families who are afraid to speak up, afraid to raise the fact that they don't have the money to afford this, afraid that their child may be adversely affected, that he may not be on the school team, et cetera. Perhaps irrational, but this is what's happening on the ground. And the other question is that this house hasn't addressed, is this good for children to be on laptops from 9 o'clock to 4 o'clock during the school day and then to go home and be consumed with social media? And you have created this, Minister. You've created it by a solo run in relation to the change of curriculum. And now it's up to you to address it.