Lack of staff ‘hampering bid to tackle truancy’

MORE staff are needed if the problem of regular absence from school is to be properly tackled, the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) warned yesterday.

The board’s chairwoman, Dr Ann Louise Gilligan, said the elimination of education disadvantage would remain an aspiration as long as there were gaps in vital services for children.

The board has less than 100 of the 330 staff it needs to offer full services to every school in the country. It sought funding of almost €13 million for this year, which would have allowed it more than double staff levels, but has only received €7.8m from the Department of Education.

“Children’s lives are not dispensable, they only have one short chance at childhood and it is up to services like ours to help ensure that they are given the best opportunities during that time,” Dr Gilligan said.

“The board needs support from society generally and from the Government to discharge this responsibility. A fully resourced educational welfare service would go a long way towards meeting the needs of these children and families.”

Labour Party education spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan accused the Government of failing to tackle school truancy.

“The NEWB has been starved of funding since it was established, indicating the very low priority given to educational disadvantage by the Government,” she said.

Ms O’Sullivan referred to NEWB figures showing one-in-four second-level students in disadvantaged areas miss a month of school each year. She asked what was the point having legislation and an institution to address truancy and dropout rates if there were insufficient staff to affect the board’s mandate.

The department said this year’s NEWB funding was 20% more than last year and it recently sanctioned an extra 10 educational welfare officers (EWOs) to be appointed.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin told the Dáil recently she will be keeping NEWB staffing under review in light of service rollout and proposals from the board about priority needs.

NEWB figures published last year suggest as many as 80,000 children miss more than 20 days a year but most are pupils who have been ill or whose parents did not realise the number of days missed.