Project cuts ‘increase risk of students dropping out of school’

Recent improvements to the rate of students staying in school to Leaving Certificate level risk being reversed by more cuts to a project directly targeting children in danger of dropping out, programme leaders warned.

Another 6.5% cut is faced in the autumn by 124 local school completion programme (SCP) projects, working with students in disadvantaged schools deemed at highest risk of early school-leaving. This is on top of what one project claims has been a cut of one third to the SCP budget since 2008.

Through a range of in-school, after-school, and holiday programmes, the Scóp SCP project helps more than 100 children on Cork’s southside improve their relationship with school, linking in with the work of educational welfare officers and home-school-community staff. Over 90% of the €222,000 budget funds a co-ordinator, three project workers, and an administrator to help pupils at two second-level and seven primary schools.