Autistic children could lose home tutors, says Labour

AUTISTIC children could lose the services of home tuition instructors who have worked with them for many years because of rules insisting they must be qualified school teachers, the Labour Party has claimed.

The Department of Education pays around e7 million a year in home tuition grants in respect of 380 children with autism whose educational needs can not be met in schools. It reimburses parents for payments to instructors who teach their children at home.

But Labour’s equality spokesperson Kathleen Lynch said the Department of Education has changed the criteria for recognising instructors providing home tuition. She called on Education minister Mary Hanafin to ease the requirement in order to allow children to continue learning from the same instructors.