Preparing citizens for the information society
The European Commission has unveiled ambitious plans to transform education and training in schools throughout the Community and prepare its citizens for the onset of the "knowledge society'. Speaking at the launch of the eLearning initiative at the Dundalk Institute of Technology, Republic of Ireland on September 8, Mrs Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Education and culture, outlined the Commission's proposals to improve the teaching of information technology skills. The Commission is working with educationalists, the computer industry and Member states to improve the electronic infrastructure throughout the Community and ensure that all schools are connected to the Internet by 2001. Mrs Reding recognised that countries such as Ireland have made remarkable progress in raising standards of IT training in recent years but there are still significant discrepancies within Europe in access to computer technology. While the Commission aims to ensure that all schoolchildren have the opportunity to learn on-line, the eLearning initiative was not simply about distributing money to buy the necessary equipment. "Providing all pupils and teachers with the necessary skills to use new technologies is also a tremendous challenge. Technology in itself is not a panacea - our combined efforts must contribute to developing new teaching practices and high quality educational content and support services," she said. In June, education ministers of all member states approved the Commission's ideas for a new strategic initiative called 'eLearning - Designing tomorrow's education'. At the next meeting of the education council in November, it will present details of plans for implementing the initiative. Mrs Reding outlined a range of actions which are already underway. The Regional Funds Directorate has allocated 400 million euro for projects to support information society projects in the regions and similar proposals are being considered by the Directorate in charge of the European Social Fund. The European Investment Bank has also committed 15 billion euro over three years for investments in infrastructure and training in this area. Meanwhile, eLearning objectives have been given a high priority under the Commission's Socrates programme and the Information Technology Programme for 2001 will explore the future direction of developments in information technology, she said. Many initiatives are being taken on a regional or national level and the Commission is therefore keen to ensure that participants have an opportunity to share the results of their work with colleagues across the Community. In partnership with the French Presidency, the Commission intends to hold the first eLearning conference in Paris on November 22, Mrs Reding said.
Kraje
Ireland