Education in NI Transformed by £46million ICT Investment
04 October 2007
Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane today (4 Oct) unveiled the groundbreaking results of a £46million investment in the latest education technologies.
The Minister was visiting Hazelwood Primary School in Belfast, which is the 250th school in the province to benefit from the new ICT Managed Service for primary schools – procured through the innovative Classroom 2000 initiative (C2K).
Awarded to Northgate Managed Services, the contract is part of the largest ICT education managed service project to be implemented in Europe. Over five years Northgate will deliver and support the latest media rich education technologies to each of the 883 primary schools in Northern Ireland.
The ICT Managed Service supports C2K’s objective of enhancing and individualising the learning and teaching experiences of approximately 170,000 teachers and pupils province-wide, equipping them with many of the key skills they require for the future.
While the technologies delivered by Northgate are advanced and highly complex, the real benefits to the end users – predominantly children aged between 4 and 11 - will be a much simpler, user-friendly, interactive learning platform.
As a direct result of the £46million investment, the primary school sector will:
§ be fitted out with the very latest computing equipment – including LCD monitors, workstations, video conferencing facilities and colour printers;
§ be integrated via C2K’s ‘Enterprise Active Directory’, enabling schools to work collaboratively online and more effectively share and enhance the teaching/learning experience for all;
§ benefit from a more secure teaching and learning environment – and be less vulnerable to misuse and hackers.
Primary schools will also benefit from Northgate’s pro-active network monitoring and fixing service which enables the company to identify and resolve problems before schools are even aware of their existence. As this covers everything from hardware issues such as printer faults, to network and software problems it ensures schools have a readily available and reliable IT infrastructure.
As an extension to the original contract, over 25,000 laptops are also being distributed to schools throughout NI’s educational sectors – nursery, primary, special needs and post primary – resulting in every teacher having round the clock access to their work and resources.
Speaking during the visit, Ms Ruane spoke of the importance of ICT in children’s education and said: “Every child in our schools, regardless of ability, background, or even the type of school they attend, deserves to avail of the best opportunities available. We are already considered to be a leader in the use of ICT in education and today I have seen how we can build on those strong foundations. Both the scale of investment and the nature of the upgrade will provide our children with unrivalled opportunities to avail of the most up to date technologies in school.”
Assess the positive benefits the ICT Managed Service is delivering to pupils, Chris Stone, Chief Executive of Northgate said:
“This is a significant milestone for education in Northern Ireland and we’re proud to be playing such an instrumental role in shaping the future of teaching and learning here.
“Northgate prides itself on being a partner in this initiative and our priority is to do everything possible to keep NI’s education system at the leading edge – which we can only achieve by fully understanding the technology needs of our schools today. This contract is part of a long term investment programme which aims to unlock the full potential of those who are teaching and those who are learning. It is helping to change the face of education here and is already gaining global recognition for what is being achieved.”
Endorsing Northgate’s achievements for C2K, Jimmy Stewart Director of C2K added:
“Northgate has earned its reputation as leading specialists in the education sector with a proven track record in the provision of large, complex managed service projects to the public sector. This is particularly important when it comes to the long-term strategy such as this which is pivotal to the future of education and to our young people in Northern Ireland. This service will ensure our primary school sector has an advanced technology platform to support its education needs as well as a single point of contact for ICT advice and problem solving. By empowering schools in this way, we are creating an exemplar for the delivery of education across the British Isles.”
