A petition with 107 signatures was delivered to Angus Council’s scrutiny and audit committee in Forfar on Tuesday demanding that wi-fi is installed at Monikie Primary School “as a matter of the utmost urgency”.
Monikie parents Fiona Gray and Susan Paul told Angus Council the lack of internet facilities at the school is not adhering to the basic principle of Scotland’s children’s policy framework.
As reported in Tuesday’s Courier, there are concerns pupils are being put at an educational disadvantage and it was unacceptable that they are unable to access additional educational resources or make use of Glow which is Education Scotland’s digital learning environment.
Mrs Gray said the focus of Angus Council’s digital strategy 2017-2020 was to “ensure that we have consistent digital standards and experience in all schools” and “to provide a suitable environment for digital learning and teaching”.
“We should have thought that the installation of internet in those schools which do not currently have this would have been a priority,” she explained.
“As far as parents at Monikie are concerned, the lack of facilities at Monikie is not adhering to the basic principle of Getting It Right For Every Child and is putting our children at a disadvantage compared to others in Angus.”
Mrs Gray said parents were told in January last year that the school had spent £2,000 on iPads and £1,500 on interactive maths software which the children haven’t been able to fully utilise.
She said: “There seems to be a lack of clarity of information coming from the school regarding installation.
“We were told in May last year that, following the head teacher’s discussion with Angus Council, wi-fi would be installed before Christmas 2017.”
Mrs Gray said there has been discrepancies with the information being given to parents from the school, both as to how the wi-fi connection is to be achieved and also when it will take place.
Scrutiny and audit committee members were told the connectivity is part of a wider programme to enable the roll-out of digital connectivity throughout Angus.
The committee agreed that necessary action is already planned and the project is scheduled to be completed this school session “depending on approval from planning authority, Historic Scotland and conclusion of legal agreement with landowner”.