Children deserve better of schools

WHEN a child misses 20 days of school in a year, a state body must automatically be notified and intervene with the family or guardian.

But when a teenager was refused entry to as many as 30 schools, most of them in the same wide catchment area, the same agency was powerless to act. So says the Department of Education in explaining why planned new laws and regulations will give that agency — the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) — and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) power to compel a school to enrol a child in certain cases.

Last week, at a hearing of the Oireachtas education committee, concerns were raised by school management organisations that they may have to admit students for whom they do not have the resources to provide a suitable education or to deal with challenging behaviour.