Crowe calls on Minister for Education to urgently address the needs of Tallaght schools
Sinn Féin Education spokesperson, Seán Crowe TD has called on the Minister
for education to urgently address the needs of St. Marks Junior and Senior
Schools in Tallaght. Speaking in Tallaght this week he said the two schools
“are in dire need of extra resources to cope with the extra pressures put
on them to deal with the difficulties associated with the number of
international children attending the schools.
Deputy Crowe said,
"Children from thirty two different countries now attend
St. Marks
Junior and Senior Schools and the majority of them do not speak
English. No interpreters are available to the schools and the cost of
employing one is beyond their means. Because of this they are struggling to
maintain educational standards. Yet for some reason the Department of
Education has refused to supply English language support for more than two
years.
"In St. Marks Junior School there are three teachers seeking
to support
the language needs of 170 international children. That's a
ratio of 56
children to 1 teacher. It just isn’t practical. In the
Senior School there
are three teachers supporting the language needs of
110 international
children.
"The schools have no home
liaison teacher and are struggling daily to deal
with the avalanche of
social, emotional and psychological challenges that
accompany relocated
peoples.
"These schools are obviously a special case and are in
dire need of extra
resources to cope with the extra pressures put on
them to deal with the
difficulties associated with the number of
international children attending
the schools.
"I am calling
on the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin to urgently
address the
needs of these schools."ENDS