Bright children to suffer under cutbacks

HUNDREDS of the country’s brightest children could miss out on the chance of taking special classes because of a budget cutback that will save the Government less than €100,000.

More than 30,000 young people have taken courses with the Centre for Talented Youth in Ireland (CTYI) since it was set up in 1992. It allows children aged up to 16, who are in the top 5% of ability, to take on subjects not available in schools — ranging from biochemistry and astronomy to film studies or novel writing.

Of about 3,700 students attending its academic programmes, most pay fees ranging from €240 for nine-week courses held at weekends, to €1,500 for summer residential courses. But the centre uses the €98,000 grant it receives every year from the Department of Education to help waive up to half those fees for about 600 children.

However, they will not be able to do this from next year as the grant was one of those axed by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe in the budget two months ago.

“We don’t want to lose students who are eligible to take part in courses, but this puts us in a tricky situation. It means we don’t have any extra funding to help those less well-off students and it’s not realistic to ask the families of other students to pay more,” said CTYI director Colm O’Reilly.

“These students have special educational needs because they’re not being catered for in school, so the idea is to give them courses they couldn’t otherwise access. The risk is that they become gifted under-achievers, by not fulfilling their potential because they’re not challenged enough,” he said.

In the Programme for Government, the coalition promises to increase resources and services for gifted children. The Education Act requires the minister to ensure support services and a level of education appropriate to meet the needs and abilities of everyone living in the state. These include people with special educational needs, which the legislation includes as the educational needs of exceptionally able students.

Mr O’Keeffe’s spokes-person said the department is satisfied it is discharging its legal obligations for the students concerned, and the provision of services in any area is predicated on the resources available.

Many of the gifted children who attend CTYI courses also have other special educational needs, including Asperger’s Syndrome, dyslexia or attention deficit disorder.

About 30 classes are held at DCU. Classes are also held on weekends in Cork, Limerick, Athlone, Letterkenny, Waterford, Galway, Enniscorthy and Tralee.