THE £10,000 grant for purchasing computers, which is available to schools operating the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programmes for the first time, should be extended to all schools, says John Mulcahy, ASTI president.

About 120 schools are offering the LCVP at present, he says, and the programme is open to applications, but many smaller schools would not have sufficient numbers of Leaving Certificate students to make the introduction of an LCVP class viable.

A recent report commissioned by Forbairt found that the average number of computers per school was 22. Vocational schools were generally better equipped, with an average of 29 computers per school. Girls' schools were less well equipped with an average of 16 computers per school.

Mulcahy says that even these figures may be misleading as some schools purchased computers in the 1970s and have not been able to update to modern equipment which would run the common software programmes.

"Eighty per cent of schools in Sweden are on the Internet. I'd say we'd be lucky if we reached double figures here," he adds.

Most of the computers in schools have not been upgraded to CD ROM status, says Mulcahy, leaving Irish students "one generation behind in the information age.

"In addition, Irish students are obliged to use standardised software from the US which does not reflect the requirements and distinctive features of the Irish curriculum."

He is also concerned about the need for in-service training for teachers if they are to make the "psychological shift from using the blackboard to incorporating computers into every facet of education and not just as part of a narrow range of subjects."

He says that the shortages in Irish schools were illustrated by the Minister for Education's recent decision not to certify the computer application modules of the new Leaving Certificate accountancy course because not enough schools had the facilities to deliver this course to an acceptable national standard.