Rural schools could lose out on remote learning
Fear is mounting that secondary school students in rural areas and from less well-off backgrounds are being left behind as they rely on remote learning due to the continued shutdown of schools.
This comes as a survey carried out by online student resource studyclix.ie revealed that almost two-thirds of Galway students are having connectivity problems as a result of poor broadband.
Galway East Deputy Anne Rabbitte said that while schools were making every effort to assist students and teachers were endeavouring to be as helpful as possible, a lack of access to adequate internet connections was insurmountable.
“People are being left behind through no fault of their own, or through no fault of their teachers – our system is simply not built for this and the infrastructure isn’t there,” said Deputy Rabbitte, whose own son is a Leaving Cert student at Portumna Community School.
Deputy Rabbitte said they faced the same issues as countless other families at their home in Portumna, with poor broadband meaning that only two people could be connected at any one time, despite having enough devices to manage.
Furthermore, she said there were large numbers of families that do not have the required equipment, adding that it was inappropriate that many students were now reliant on their phones to access online lessons – particularly Leaving Cert students who would, as far as they knew this week, be sitting their exams at the end of July.
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