Cork centre for school drop-outs launches petition to avoid closure

Staff at a centre for school dropouts which faces possible closure due to a lack of funding have launched a petition in a bid to convince the Department of Education to save it.

The Life Centre in Cork has been providing continuing education for early school leavers for the past 14 years.

Earlier this year, the Irish Examiner highlighted how staff and management at the centre feared the facility may close due to a shortfall in funding, with trustees of the Christian Brothers claiming that they are no longer in a position to provide the annual €90,000 per year in funding.

The centre now faces closure unless the department makes up the shortfall. However, there are no indications that that is likely, with Education Minister Ruairi Quinn saying last year that “the Christian Brothers have the resources to address this issue”.

The likelihood of closure comes despite increased demand, with the centre forced to turn away referrals due to a lack of space.

The department has been providing €47,500 in annual funding and 960 teaching co-operation hours, but management at the centre said the current funding model will not be sufficient past the end of the current academic year.

Centre director Don O’Leary said the online petition would run until July 1 and urged as many people as possible to sign.

“It does not make any sense for the centre to close,” he said.

The facility, in Sunday’s Well in the city, currently has 40 children who have dropped out or been removed from mainstream education.

Mr O’Leary said he had received applications on behalf of 34 other children over the course of the past year, including four in the past week.

The centre provides Fetac training and a range of subjects to Junior and Leaving Certificate level.

Mr O’Leary said that the cost of a child staying in education at the centre was similar to the average cost of staying in mainstream education and less expensive than home tuition or the possibility of diversion to facilities such as Oberstown.

Most of the teaching is carried out on a one-to- one basis by volunteers, although some teachers work part-time.

The Life Centre petition page states: “For 14 years now, the Cork Life Centre has provided early school leavers an alternative place of education, a safe haven, a close community, and most importantly the time and space for them to develop: not just academically, but socially; not just as individuals but as members of the community. We the undersigned call on the department of education to ensure the services of the Cork Life Centre continue into the future.”