'500 extra Gaelscoileanna' needed to meet demand

(Seo alt ónár bhfoireann Gaeltachta. Is féidir an bunleagan as Gaeilge a léamh anseo)

ONE IN EVERY four people would choose all-Irish education for their children, yet only 8% of the country’s schools are Irish-medium schools, according to the chief executive of An Foras Pátrúnachta, the patron body responsible for the majority of the country’s Gaelscoileanna.

Caoimhín Ó hEaghra was responding to the findings of the Primary School Survey carried out by the Department of Education and Youth, published on Tuesday, on the preferences parents across the country have  for language of instruction of the primary school they wish their children to attend.

The survey also examined preferences around the religious ethos parents would like their children’s school to have, as well as whether they would prefer a mixed school with boys and girls in attendance, or a single-sex school.

The survey found that 74%  of parents with children in single sex schools or about to enrol in a single sex school want those schools to become coeducational primary schools. while 41% of parents with children attending single denomination schools want those schools to become multi-denominational. 

On the language of instruction at the school, a total of 13.9% of parents indicated they would prefer education through Irish for their children. That figure included parents whose children are already attending a school that provides education through English.

According to the survey, however, 24.8% of parents of children not yet attending any school would choose a Gaelscoil for their children if that option were available.

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According to the chief executive of An Foras Pátrúnachta, the shortage of Gaelscoileanna shows that the Department of Education and Youth is not “committed to all-Irish education for the 65,000 children who are not currently being catered for.”

“Only 8% of the country’s schools (250) are all-Irish schools,” said Ó hEaghra. “That number of schools needs to triple (500 additional schools) to meet the demand shown in the survey results.

“Minister Naughton and the Department of Education & Youth have not announced any intention, let alone a plan, to provide even one of those 500 additional schools.”

Ó hEaghra said there was a need to “approach the question of all-Irish provision on the basis of school planning areas.”

“For example, if there are 20 schools in a school planning area and a 25% demand for all-Irish education, five schools should be converting into Gaelscoileanna.

“The Department is ignoring the Programme for Government, but the Government is facilitating that approach.”

In a statement issued by the Department as it published the survey results, Minister Hildegarde Naughton said the “results show something very important: the voices of parents and families on the future of education in their own areas.”

“For the first time, we have a detailed picture of what parents would like their primary schools to look like in the years ahead, whether that relates to the school’s ethos, the language of instruction or the type of educational provision available to children in their community,” she said.

“Every school community is unique. While the national results provide valuable context, it is the views expressed within each local community that matter most.”

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She also said the results represented a “starting point” for conversations about the future, “led by the people who know their schools best: parents, pupils, staff and local communities.”

Parents have told An Foras Pátrúnachta that they do not feel the Department is listening to them. Cormac MacGabhann, a parent living in Dublin, said.

“I am a pre-school parent who is voting in favour of all-Irish education for my son,” he said.

“The Department needs to cater for families like mine who cannot access a Gaelscoil.

“We speak Irish at home and unless something changes, my children will have no choice but to attend an English-medium school. I feel that situation is neither right nor fair.”

An Foras Pátrúnachta is recommending that the Department put in place a comprehensive framework for the provision of all-Irish education at both primary and post-primary level.

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