1,000 ‘won’t make it to second level’

UP TO 1,000 children beginning school this week will not make it to second level education unless resources in primary schools are improved, teachers and opposition parties claimed yesterday.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation said many children who failed to transfer to second level had well-established patterns of non-attendance or truancy, but parents were often unaware of the problem until they were approached by the school.

Union general secretary John Carr said the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB), set up two years ago to ensure every child either attends school or otherwise receives an education, must be properly staffed to help address the problem.

“For it to work properly, 350 education welfare officers are needed, whereas at present there are only 80,” Mr Carr said.

“Jail or fines are not the way forward. The State has failed many children and cannot penalise parents to cover for its own failure to help them,” he said.

NEWB chief executive Eddie Ward said social and family circumstances were the main causes of children not progressing to second-level.

But the NEWB also helps parents whose children have been unable to secure a school place after their primary education.

In Limerick, eight pupils who finished sixth class this summer and eight who left primary schools in the city a year earlier are without a second-level place.

Five of them are awaiting school board decisions and up to five more are set to be placed in the coming weeks.

“We’re working with the Department of Education to ensure remaining students are availing of satisfactory education arrangements this month,” Mr Ward said.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael education spokesperson Olwyn Enright said many children with special needs were returning to school with less support than before the summer.

She accused Education Minister Noel Dempsey of implementing cutbacks and being unable to grasp these pupils’ needs.

A Department of Education spokesperson said Mr Dempsey has displayed his commitment to special needs children.

She said he had authorised the allocation of significant resources and would continue to do so.

“The minister has brought the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 through the Oireachtas, providing a comprehensive framework for delivery of educational services to pupils with special educational needs,” the spokesperson said.