Delay ‘fails needy pupils’

SIX pupils with learning difficulties at a Kerry school have been waiting up to 13 months for the individual teaching they need.

The parents of the children, in first to fourth classes, are considering legal action against the Department of Education over the delay.

Principal Jerome Conway applied for resource teaching hours for three pupils in December 2002, a fourth in January last year and two more in mid-February. But they still do not have the one-to-one tuition they require, despite psychological assessments showing how each needs either two-and-a-half or three hours of such help every week for mostly reading-related problems.