Minister must ringfence funding for disadvantaged schools [labour.ie]
- Published: 21 September 2010
Labour Party Councillor and Sheriff Street School Principal Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, has again called on Education Minister Mary Coughlan to give an absolute unequivocal assurance that no cuts will be made to the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Education in Schools) status of educational disadvantage for schools and no curtailment of the School Completion Programme will be introduced.
Cllr Ó Ríordáin said: "A number of Principals involved in disadvantaged education have expressed fears to me - some have used the term 'terrified' - that the programmes that keep their heads above water may be cut.
"In the light of cuts in traveller education, the postponement of the EPSEN act, the cuts in disadvantaged grants for non-DEIS schools and the increase in class sizes, justifiable fears have arisen amongst those principals involved in the most courageous of educational work. However most were satisfied that their schools would be ring-fenced.
"Recent measures aimed at cutting services to children with special educational needs, including those in DEIS schools, have given rise to fears that, disgracefully, everything is currently up for grabs in the Department of Education. This may include the DEIS scheme and the Schools Completion Programme, aimed at tackling early-school leaving, despite the fact that both are vital to the future of children in our poorest schools.
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