Schools of Ireland will receive a technology boost under the National Development Plan 2007-2013. The new investment is designed to develop an e-Learning culture in schools. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The Ministry of Education will follow this plan by implementing ICT skills into schools. The Government is planning to invest EUR25 million to buy hardware for teaching new and revised technology subjects. Under that plan approximately 500 schools will receive funding, which would be used to provide hardware such as PCs, laptops, printers, digital scanners and data projectors. The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) has joined with the Union of Students in Ireland and the Combined Higher Education Software Trust in signing an agreement with Microsoft to offer specially-priced software to every primary, second and third level student in the country. The Software4Students programme will make discounts on all Microsoft software available to 917,000 students.
