Hanafin: Gaelscoileanna must teach juniors English

GAELSCOILEANNA that have traditionally not taught English until after junior infants will be given a year’s grace to introduce a policy under which the subject must be taught after the first term of school.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin’s announcement of her planned policy change before schools closed in June drew an angry response from many Irish language organisations, including Forás na Gaeilge and Gaelscoileanna which represents the 160-plus non-Gaeltacht all-Irish primary schools.

Following a series of meetings with interested parties, the minister said yesterday that she still intends to introduce the policy, which will mean all-Irish schools must teach children half an hour of English a day from the second term of junior infants at the latest.

But while the policy will be effective from September, an exception will be made for the following school year for some Gaelscoileanna and Gaeltacht schools.

“If there is a long tradition of total immersion, schools will have until the school year beginning in September 2008,” she said.

“The same rule will also apply to English-speaking schools, where I believe all children should be taught Irish from the earliest stage possible,” Ms Hanafin said.

The practice of total immersion is used by a large number of Gaelscoileanna, which argue that any lost teaching in English is made up subsequently.