Schools set to defy Dempsey ban on half days

STUDENTS at several schools will be granted a half day today to celebrate the visit of Cork's Lord Mayor defying Education Minister Noel Dempsey's ban on the tradition.

Seven schools will be visited by Cork Lord Mayor Colm Burke as the controversy over days off continues.

Education Minister Noel Dempsey has insisted schools should not freely grant half days for visiting dignitaries such as mayors or bishops.

But Mr Burke has received assurances from three school principals that a half- day will be given when he visits today.

He said the ban on half- days for mayoral visits was damaging to politics.

"If you decide to have a launch or a function, if there was no food or refreshments, you'd say: 'This crowd are very mean'. It's the same with school visits we're trying to sell a message and the half day is the incentive for people to remember it."

Under the standardised school year system introduced by the Department of Education, principals must provide 183 full days' education in primary schools and 167 for secondary students. They also must have standardised mid-term breaks and Christmas and Easter Holidays.

However, there is some flexibility for schools to take individual days off if they make up for them later and this is what the three Cork schools are doing.

Mr Burke is due to visit around 70 city schools during the next three weeks.

The tradition of half days for a visiting lord mayor was started 83 years ago by Cork Mayor Terence McSwiney. He died in October 1920 on hunger strike in Brixton Prison, which was later to inspire the Indian leader, Mahatma Ghandi.

McSwiney's predecessor Tomás MacCurtain was murdered by British forces at the height of the War of Independence six months earlier. MacCurtain's great grandson will be among the pupils who greet Mr Burke later today.

"I don't want this to be seen as a row between myself and Minister Dempsey because I think he is a very good minister. But in this situation, we need some flexibility," said Mr Burke.

He is planning to show students a 10-minute video of a recent visit to Kenya. "They have just introduced free primary education and there are 1.7 million children attending school for the first time. When you see what they've got, you appreciate our education system," he said.

The Department of Education said there was some flexibility for schools with specific requirements for days off. "But there needs to be adequate notice given to parents because it's not practical or fair if parents drop children off at the school and are told it's closing at one in the afternoon," a spokesman for the Department said.