Education faces diversity challenge

THE need to cater for the diverse student population is one of the biggest challenges facing the education system, Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe has said.

With international pupils making up a large proportion of the thousands of extra children in Irish classrooms, the Catholic Church admitted this week that it may need to reduce its number of primary schools.

The provision of education for children of different faiths may be partially addressed by the Department of Education’s move to create a model of primary school patronage by Vocational Education Committees for the first time from this autumn.