The Government is to unveil an £81 million IT package for primary and secondary schools.
The Minister for Education, Dr Woods, said his aim was to ensure every pupil would be equipped for full participation in the information society.
The Minister's announcement comes shortly after the ASTI criticised computer provision in schools. It found that lack of access by teachers to laptop computers was inhibiting the use of the Internet in the classroom.
Dr Woods said the new package would aim to build on the success of the Schools IT2000 project, which has brought major improvements in the use of computers in schools.
This progress, he said, has been borne out by a national survey conducted by the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) which showed that:
The pupil/computer ratios are 17.7 for primary and 13 for post-primary schools, down from 35 and 16 respectively in 1998.
Every school now has a connection to the Internet, up from 25 per cent in 1998.
Some 62 per cent of second-level schools now have multi-user Web access, mainly via ISDN.
Some 18 per cent of primary schools and 78 per cent of second-level schools now have their own computer networks in place, an increase of 14 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.
Some 15 per cent of primary schools and 46 per cent of second-level schools have their own Websites, up from 3 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.
About 50,000 IT training places have also been provided for teachers, Dr Woods said.
Dr Woods acknowledged that improvements in the area of IT in education were due in no small part to the enthusiasm and dedication of teachers who have embraced the technology to help make it part of teaching and learning.
"However, more work needs to be done and consequently, further funding of £81 million has been provided by the Government in the period 2001 to 2003 for IT in education," he added.
The funding will build on the progress to date by augmenting the ICT capital provision to schools, expanding access to and use of the Internet technologies, further integrating IT into school curricula and teachers' professional development.