By Louise Doyle
CONCERN has been raised about the rising number of online fundraisers to help send schoolchildren to a major competition in the United States next month.
The All-Ireland Vex Robotics Championship takes place in Texas in May.
Two Donegal schools have initiated online fundraisers to help take their students to the World Championships in Dallas in May.
Other schools elsewhere in the country are also appealing for donations through online fundraisers to help get their students to the prestigious championship.
A reader contacted the Donegal News concerned that the fundraisers are placing a huge strain on families, pensioners and small businesses.
“I just can’t understand how two schools from Donegal, plus one or two more schools down the country can all be representing Ireland. There were less than 30 schools competing at the national competition, so it’s hardly that difficult to qualify if that many schools won.”
The reader was speaking as nine families with children with special needs travelled to Dublin to sleep outside Dáil Éireann in a bid to call on the government to help their little ones secure a place a Little Angels School in Letterkenny. It is the only special school in the county.
“It would be different if they were paying their own way, but they want everyone else paying for their trip to America. Meanwhile, kids with special needs can’t even get a place at school and small businesses keep getting squeezed by government.”
The reader said that they believed the fundraisers were pressurising families, pensioners and businesses “into paying for an American holiday for teachers, kids and probably their families too”.
According to their Mission Statement, the Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation’s mission is to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, affordable, and sustainable robotics engineering programmes.
We asked the Department of Education for a response. It had not been received at the time of going to press yesterday.
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