Welcome for assurances on keeping small schools

TEACHERS have welcomed assurances from Education Minister Ruairi Quinn that there are no plans to close small primary schools.

Concern has been mounting in rural communities in recent months about an ongoing review by Mr Quinn’s department into value for money from the resources given to hundreds of smaller schools.

But he told the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) annual congress that the study is not driven by ideology, with no policy decisions yet taken and no particular outcome being sought. It is examining the 650 schools with 50 pupils or less.