Schools express anger over ‘lottery’ to award Stem grants

Schools have expressed anger over the use of a “lottery” to award grants of up to €4.7 million for science, technology, maths and engineering (Stem) education.

Minister for Education Norma Foley announced on Wednesday that 446 primary and 85 post-primary schools across the country are due to receive funding of between €1,000 and €10,000 for Stem education.

Ms Foley said there has been an “overwhelming response” to the grant scheme, with in excess of 2,700 applications.

The Department of Education has since confirmed that due to the high volume of applications, a lottery was used to select successful schools.

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These applications were then assessed on a “case by case” basis and read again by an evaluation team to ensure they met the requirements as set out in the grant call.

This procedure was then repeated until all the budget available was allocated, according to the department.

“We acknowledge the time and work that was put in by most schools into the applications, however the department had to work within the budget allocated and to allocate those monies in a fair a way as possible,” it said in a statement.

“To those schools whose applications were not selected, their commitment to advancing Stem education does not go unnoticed and the Minister would encourage them to continue their efforts in providing the best possible learning experiences for our students.”

Some teachers and principals who submitted applications expressed anger that they were not made aware that a lottery would be used.

“If we’d known it was a lottery, we might not have spent all that time carefully researching and writing our applications. It’s crazy that schools are in competition against each other for what should be basis, core funding,” said one teacher involved in putting an application together.

The Department of Education said initial funding available at the time of call for applications was €1.5 million, which was later increased to €4.7 million.

“This additional funding fell way short of the asks of over €25m but the Department had to work with the budget available,” it said.

“The Department is front loading the grant scheme this year and it is hoped that a further round of funding can be run in 2024. It means that eligible schools that were not successful this time may receive funding in the future.”

Some of the successful projects include a focus on coding, robotics, growing plants without soil, modules on AI, interpreting weather patterns, film and animation, student Stem clubs and community-based science fairs.

Ms Foley praised the high quality of applications for the Stem grants and the innovative approaches from the schools involved.

“The successful applicants represent a diverse range of primary and post-primary schools from across the country. The grants will support these schools in implementing initiatives that are designed to ignite interest and participation in Stem and will enhance Stem curriculum and learner engagement.”

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