Rise in pupils dropping out before Junior Cert

MORE young people are dropping out of school before taking the Junior Certificate despite huge government efforts and spending aimed at improving school completion rates.

Central Statistics Office data collected since 2002 shows that, while things are slightly better than six years ago, almost one-in-four people aged 15 to 19 have not finished lower secondary education.

The 24% of people in that age category whose highest education attainment was primary school or lower, compares to just 22% in 2004. That difference could be as many as 6,000, or suggest that 1,200 people leave school early every year.