Pregnant schoolgirls shunning home tuition

THE number of children receiving home tuition grants has increased, but only a fraction of the hundreds of schoolgirls who become pregnant are availing of the payments, with only 70 teenage girls receiving the grant last year.

The statistics, provided by the Department of Education, also show that more than 1,000 autistic children of preschool age and with no school have received home tuition grants in the past two years.

In addition, the number of children at primary and post-primary levels that have no school place or are unable to attend because of a serious medical condition has also increased in the past two years.