Minister will tell teachers no plan exists to shut small schools [IrishTimes]
- Published: 25 April 2011
THE GOVERNMENT has no plans to close down hundreds of small rural schools, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn will tell primary teachers this evening.
In his first address to the annual round of teacher conferences, Mr Quinn will underline the seriousness of the economic crisis and the need for the education sector, which receives close to €9 billion in funding, to do “more for less”.
His expected comments come amid growing concern about the Department of Education’s value-for-money review of smaller schools. Mr Quinn will use his address to Irish National Teachers’ Organisation members in Sligo to reassure school communities. One source said: “This speculation about the department closing hundreds of schools is wide of the mark . . . We have no policy of shutting down smaller schools.”
Almost 650 primary schools – one in five – have fewer than 50 pupils, most of them two-teacher schools. Most one- and two-teacher schools are in Galway (72), Mayo (68) Donegal (60) and Cork (47).
Since October, these have been the subject of a value-for-money review.
The McCarthy Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure proposed merging some of these schools and eliminating 300 teaching posts to achieve savings of €18 million.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
