Just over half of post-primary schools have applied for funding under the Government’s phone pouches scheme.
A total of 380 out of the country’s 722 second-level schools have made applications under the €9 million plan, announced in the budget last year, to provide smartphone pouches or storage boxes to restrict the use of mobile phones by pupils during the school day.
The initiative sparked criticism at the time and Opposition parties labelled it “wasteful” and “unnecessary”.
But in reply to a parliamentary question from Labour education spokesman Eoghan Kenny, Minster for Education Helen McEntee confirmed that 380 schools had applied for funding of €25 per pupil by the June 24th deadline.
READ MORE
Payment has already been made to 304 schools and “processing of the balance of those schools is under way, with funding to issue to eligible schools shortly”. The funding can only be used for pouches and phone lock boxes.
Ms McEntee said the phone restriction policy “will build on the existing school policies in this area and will enable children to disconnect from their online world and connect more with their peers for the duration of the school day. Consultation with the school community is a key feature of this measure”.
However, Mr Kenny said phone pouches were far down the list of priorities for schools that had contacted him. “The biggest issue for schools is the lack of funding for very basic things like electricity, heating, IT equipment, funding for caretakers, for example,” he said.
He said they need funding to paint doors, walls and windows at the end of the year and “there are so many additional costs that you need, to keep the school running as opposed to storing phones”.
Mr Kenny, a former secondary school business studies and religion teacher said “this amount of money could be used in a far better way than storing phones”.
[ Schools told they cannot spend €9m phone pouch budget on other education needs Opens in new window ]
He pointed to difficulties with the phone pouch policy. “I’m not saying every child is going to do this but if you’ve a child of 15 or 16, they are going to bring in an old phone, put it into the phone pouch and then go off with their original phone.
“So it’s not an effective way of actually stopping them from using their phones.”
He acknowledged the Government’s concerns about children’s use of social media but said while there are issues in trying to keep students off phones, “the majority of the time mobile phone policy in schools works”.
