Hobson’s choice for primary school parents – ‘All Irish or no grants’

Parents in bilingual schools must decide to become a full gaelscoil or change to an English-medium school which would see them miss out on extra resources under a new Gaeltacht schools policy.

The all-or-nothing approach adopted by the Department of Education has left parents in schools on the margins of the Gaeltacht reeling.

Their status as ‘scoil sa gaeltacht’ – where subjects are taught through English but Irish is widely used in the class environment and throughout the school – will no longer exist, according to the circular distributed to the schools. These school currently receive extra resources to operate bilingually.

Many parents feel they are being forced into a decision which will have serious repercussions for both their children’s education and the Gaeltacht status of their community without adequate information about how teaching through Irish – immersion education – works or what extra resources they will receive.

In four Moycullen schools where parents were given a vote, three schools voted against lodging an expression of interest in the process to become a full Irish medium school within five years.

In other schools such as Menlo, parents were not given a vote at this first stage and the decision to lodge the expression of interest was taken by the board of management.

Schools which express an interest have until next January to formulate a plan outlining how they intend to convert to an all-Irish school over five years. The plan must also show how the school will develop links with the local community to foster the use of Irish.

Under the scheme, junior and senior infants will only be taught through Irish, with no English at all taught until they reach first class.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.