Gaelscoil pupils ‘do better at English reading tests’

CHILDREN who do not learn English in the first year or two at all-Irish primary schools go on to acquire better reading skills than other pupils, research has found.

The author of the study last night questioned Education Minister Mary Hanafin’s decision to order Gaelscoileanna and Gaeltacht schools to begin teaching English by the second term of junior infants. That directive has been challenged in the High Court by a number of schools and management bodies, who insist that pupils do not lose out by being totally immersed in Irish for up to two years of primary school.

Dónal Ó hAiniféin, former president of the Gaelscoileanna organisation and principal of an all-Irish secondary school in Ennis, Co Clare, said the minister made her decision without research.