But you do know about FPC, and it’s so much superior to TP7, so why not to make the first step and start using Free Pascal instead of it? The quality of implementation of classic Pascal features in Free Pascal is much better than what PascalABC .NET has.
The only problem is the IDE. FPC has a TUI-based IDE, mimicking turbo pascal, which is good because it can be used to replace TP7 transparently, but you don’t have to stick to it.
As it is with every programming language, it’s better to use a text editor plus compiler, rather than IDE, because text editors offer much greater choice of features, such as configurable syntax highlighting and configurable setting of encoding of input and output files.
So you can switch to FPC. For easier understanding you can simply replace desktop shortcuts, making them lead to FPC IDE instead of DOSBox + TP7, then you can start explaining to students, that they don’t have to use the IDE, but can and should use an advanced programming text editor instead.
Also, Pascal ABC .net IDE is tied to Windows, so if your schools use Linux, then you’ll have no luck using it, while FPC + text editor is available for every operating system which is in active use and it’s much better than using mono and abc compiler. FPC IDE is also cross-platform so it can run in Linux console.