A mother has said she is “adamant” that she will not be buying her son a €700 that his South Dublin school has said is compulsory for all pupils. 

Before school finished for the summer holidays in May, parents at Coláiste Éanna in Rathfarnham were called in for an information meeting. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, Pamela Freeman said she had been very surprised by the announcement. 

“We were told basically that the lads were getting laptops,” she said. 

“The cost was going to be €700 roughly; they're bringing in for three years in the school, which would be roughly 400 students and there will be a monthly payment then to keep things running.

“The kids have no choice.”

For anyone who had concerns about the costs, the school suggested that they take out a loan 

“They had a credit union there on the night as well, which really galled me,” Ms Freeman added. 

“So, that if anybody had an issue with getting the money, Heritage Credit Union were there and to provide a loan to parents.”

Ms Freeman continued that some parents were “very pro” for whom money “wasn’t an issue”, while others questioned whether the decision could have a negative impact on their children’s education. 

“There are others where money wouldn't have been an issue, [who] were concerned about different things, like how this was going to affect the kids handwriting skills,” she said. 

“PISA is one of these things they use for assessing kids all over Europe, and it's already been proven that kids in maths, science and literacy, the scores were going down and countries like Finland, Sweden, are reversing back to traditional methods. 

“They're going away from the screens because it's not working.” 

Ms Freeman is especially concerned about the emphasis computer learning will have on students’ ability to write by hand. 

“My lad is in Fifth Year, he's going to be doing a normal written Leaving Cert,” she said. 

“Handwriting skills are slowing down; I had another lad do his Leaving Cert this year and he struggled to finish some of the papers because of speed with the handwriting. 

“It wasn't just mine; that's a big problem.” 

'I was adamant'

While Ms Freeman does not want her son to be left out, her son also agrees that students should be required to purchase an expensive laptop. 

“Well, the closing date for registration was today,” she said. 

“I went on to have a look the other day because I was adamant I wasn't getting it.

“I think I should have a choice.” 

In a statement to Newstalk, the Department of Education said there is “no department requirement for students to purchase or own a personal digital device for Junior or Leaving [Cert].”

Coláiste Éanna has been contacted for comment.

Main image: A teenager with a laptop. Picture by: Alamy.com.