News

Davitt College to host its own TV channel

3 Oct 2008

Schools in Mayo may soon all have their own television channel broadcasting in the school after support was given by Mayo VEC for a pilot programme to take place in Davitt College in Castlebar.

 

The television channel, which will be the first of its kind in any Irish school, will broadcast messages on school activities as well as advice on healthy living, anti-bullying and sports reports. Dr Katie Sweeney, CEO of Mayo VEC, told a meeting of the VEC committee last week that the information will be transmitted in a two-way process in Irish.

 

The cost of the three-year pilot will be in the region of 8,500 Euros and Dr Sweeney said she hoped funding will be made available from Foras na Gaeilge. The format of the channel was offered to Davitt College as a pilot project by a UK production company called The Life Channel.

 

Mr Ioseph McGowan, Principal of Davitt College, told The Mayo News he hoped to have the television screens installed by September and explained that the medium of television was a very important tool in getting messages across to students. "Screens will be installed around the school and The Life Channel will put on material about anti-bullying, healthy living and stress management. There will also be input for the teachers and students who will be able to put information on exams and timetables on the screens. The company will be training us in how to use the product and we will be able to make videos and put them on the screen. I'd be very interested in the idea of using the channel in getting messages across to young people. I'd imagine some of the students will like to see themselves in front of the camera but there they will also learn to be creative about making programmes. This has been used in the UK and has been a huge success and I'd imagine it will grow rapidly in schools around Ireland," he said.

 

The idea of the television channel was broadly welcomed by the VEC committee, who felt the idea of incorporating the Irish language into the project would help promote Irish in school. Committee member, Nora Conroy, welcomed the idea, saying that anything that promoted the Irish language was always welcome.

 

Seán Staunton added that speaking in front of a camera would give students a degree of self confidence in public speaking, something he said was deficient in many schools. Dr Sweeney reassured some of the committee members that the channel would only be involved in the activities of the school and education and nothing outside the school or the curriculum would be incorporated into the channel.