‘Poor rate of Traveller children finish education’

LESS than half of Traveller children finish second level education, according to figures presented to Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday.

The report of the Advisory Committee on Traveller Education shows that 1,845 Traveller pupils were in mainstream second level schools last year, all but 260 of them in classes up to Junior Certificate level.

The total figure is just 46% of the estimated 4,000 members of the Traveller community of post-primary age, and compares poorly with an 80%-plus rate for the entire population.