FF backs multi-faith primary schools [IrishTimes]
- Published: 27 June 2011
THE OBJECTIVES of multi-faith understanding and social harmony “are best served by children of all faiths and none learning together”, the Fianna Fáil party has said in submission to the forum on patronage and pluralism in the primary sector.
The document was presented to party members at a conference on education in Birr, Co Offaly, yesterday. “We appreciate that some parents do not want their children to undergo faith formation in any one creed at school. At the same time, we recognise that other parents view faith formation as a vital part of their child’s education. We believe that it is possible, and desirable, for both of these perspectives to be respected and accommodated in the one school,” it said.
It continued that “this philosophy underpinned the announcement of a new pilot patronage model, the community national school, by the then minister for education and science, Mary Hanafin TD, in 2007.” The model had been piloted in five locations.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
40 new schools to be built by 2017 [Independent.ie]
- Published: 27 June 2011
The Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn, has announced that 40 new schools are to be built over the next six years, at a cost of around €380m.
Twenty primary and 20 secondary schools will be built to cater for the increasing number of pupils in the schools system.
Of the 40 new schools, 17 will be in the Dublin area. A further 12 will be constructed in the greater Dublin commuter belt of Wicklow, Meath, Kildare and Louth.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
40 new schools to be established in next six years – Minister Quinn [merrionstreet.ie]
- Published: 27 June 2011
New arrangements for the recognition of new schools also announced
The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today announced that 20 new primary schools and 20 new post-primary schools are to be established in the next six years.
Announcing the new schools, the Minister said: “My Department is forecasting an increase of over 45,050 primary pupils and 24,900 post-primary pupils by the start of the 2017/18 school year.
“In order to meet the needs of our growing population of school going children, we will have to establish 40 new schools, as well as extending a number of existing schools.”
Of the 40 new schools, 17 will be in the Dublin area with a further twelve in the commuter belt of Wicklow, Kildare, Meath and Louth.
Full Story: www.merrionstreet.ie
Student number surge to spark funding crisis [Independent.ie]
- Published: 27 June 2011
THE Government is facing a massive financial headache because of a projected explosion in student numbers at schools and colleges.
The number of enrolments over the coming years is estimated to be much higher than previously thought.
The Department of Education's latest predictions, seen by the Irish Independent, show that there will be an extra 80,000 students across all levels of education by 2014.
And by 2017, the number of students in primary and post-primary schools and third-level institutions will rise by 10pc to about 1.1 million.
In the next few years, it will require about 2,000 new teachers in primary and post-primary schools, as well as more third-level lecturers, to cope with the student boom.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Katherine Donnelly: Government must follow up education promises [Independent.ie]
- Published: 27 June 2011
PARENTS of newborn babies, or even those not born yet, will be glad to know that by the time they reach five there should at least be a school waiting to welcome them.
What is much less certain is how well staffed they will be by teachers and essential classroom colleagues such as special needs assistants (SNAs). Not to mention how much money there will be for libraries, computers and all the other things that make up an education system.
Young families, particularly those living in one of the areas of big population growth such as west Dublin, south Louth, Meath or north Kildare, or around a major city such as Cork, are getting good news today about new schools being planned by the Department of Education for almost a decade ahead.
Some welcome joined-up thinking in recent years has resulted in a level of forward-planning not seen before in relation to the provision of school buildings.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
