Wexford Students to Benefit to the Tune of €788,739

Students in County Wexford will benefit from funding announced today by the Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris TD of €5.8m granted for community education under the Mitigating against Educational Disadvantage Fund.

Students in County Wexford will benefit from funding announced today (Monday) by the Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris TD of €5.8m granted for community education under the Mitigating against Educational Disadvantage Fund.

The announcement has been warmly welcomed by Wexford Senator Malcolm Byrne who has campaigned for extra supports for disadvantaged students, especially those who may not have access to their own laptops or tablets. The allocation to the Southeast is one of the largest in the country.

The Fund aims to increase the participation of disadvantaged learners, particularly with the digital infrastructure including providing devices and software, and increasing their capacity to deliver online learning.

The funding will be administered by the Education and Training Boards and the Waterford and Wexford ETB will manage €788,739 for the two counties.

Malcolm pointed out,

“This fund will particularly help with developing individuals’ digital skills and we need to ensure that all learners have access to the technology to do this. I’ve spoken a lot about the digital divide that the pandemic has exposed even more.”

“I’m grateful to Minister Harris for meaningfully engaging on this issue and the government putting money behind it.”

Minister Harris said:

“We know that too many people in Ireland have difficulties with reading, with numbers or with digital skills. Some people may not have got the help they needed earlier in their lives, but what I want people to know is that there is friendly and non-judgemental help there for you now. There are services all over Ireland which will gladly assist you with the skills you’d like to learn.

“One of the things that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted was educational inequality – be it a lack of devices like laptops or someone not having the connectivity to study online. The funding I am announcing today is specifically designed to tackle those inequalities and support access to community education.

“Education is for everyone, for all your life, and I am determined that my department will be part of building an inclusive Ireland where nobody is left behind.”

The fund is aimed at supporting and engaging with disadvantaged learners, reaching out, encouraging and supporting learners to re-engage with education and training and attracting new learners to engage with education and training opportunities

Crucially, it aims at helping build the digital infrastructure of providers, and their capability to ensure that online learning can be delivered in a way that meets the complex needs of all learners.

ETBTotal MAEDF Funding Allocated

Cavan and Monaghan ETB€520,462

City of Dublin ETB€925,141

Cork ETB€946,669

Donegal ETB€282,892

Dublin and Dun Laoghaire ETB€134,509

Galway and Roscommon ETB€220,951

Kerry ETB€37,278

Kildare and Wicklow ETB€14,536

Kilkenny and Carlow ETB€27,320

Laois and Offaly ETB€447,801

Limerick and Clare ETB€505,750