Education plan targets pre-school

EVERY child in the country’s poorest areas will have access to pre-school education from the age of three under a €40 million-a-year education inclusion plan published by Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday.

The Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme will create 300 jobs in 600 primary and 150 second-level schools in the next five years.

For 150 primary schools in the most disadvantaged urban areas, there will be access to early education for children from the age of three.