Population decline triggers stark warning on Conamara schools

Communities in three areas in the Conamara Gaeltacht are voicing major concerns about the future of local national schools.

The numbers on the roll books in Muigh Inis in Carna and in Leitir Caladh in the Leitir Mór area have dropped to single figures. Meanwhile, estimates of future attendance in the Tír na Cille School in the Maam Valley have sent shock waves through the Joyce Country community.

It has emerged that the Board of Management at Leitir Caladh took a decision recently to close the school this year and arrange a merger with another school in the locality. There are only eight pupils left on the roll book and three of those are due to go on to secondary education later this year.

Muigh Inis in Carna has dropped to seven pupils and the omens are stark unless new families come into the area.

A widespread campaign was launched last year in an effort to encourage people from elsewhere to locate in the school catchment area in the hope that school numbers would be bolstered.

While the campaign was widely praised for its professionalism and intensity, there has been no tangible result, so far.

Open days have been arranged to encourage parents from near and far who might take the option of sending pupils to Muigh Inis.

Some parents in the Leitir Caladh area in Leitir Mór are against the plan to close the school despite the low numbers.  However, it is understood that the Board of Management have set up contact with two local schools with a view to amalgamation.

It emerged this week that the Department of Education and Skills has not yet received any notification of the intention to close the school in the Leitir Mór area.

Roll book numbers in the Tír na Cille school in Maam presently stand at 22. There has been a downward trend over the years even though some pupils now come from the Recess area, which was not in the catchment until recent decades. Now a local survey has indicated that the writing could be on the wall for the Tír na Cille school in future years unless the downward spiral is stopped.

School Principal, Caitríona Uí Shúilleabháin, has been to the fore in driving a campaign to encourage families to locate in the Maam Valley district.  Ms Uí Shúilleabháin has highlighted the many advantages which can accrue to pupils in a rural school such as Tír na Cille.

She has cited a good pupil-teacher ratio and ancillary supports, a range of sorting and physical activities and community facilities that would be attractive to parents and children.

She also stated that the Maam Valley area is relatively close to Galway City and to towns such as Ballinrobe, Clifden and Westport. The geography of Maam Valley located in hill country in Connemara is also part of the campaign.

A similar type message has been highlighted by the management, parents and teachers in Muigh Inis in Carna.  While there is a geographical difference – the Muigh Inis school is located beside the ocean and within a stone’s throw of pristine beaches – both the Maam Valley and Carna are rural communities.

The threats hanging over Leitir Caladh, Muigh Inis and Tír na Cille are replicated to a lesser – but significant – degree throughout west Conamara.  No new pupils came into the Gort Mór National School in Ros Muc in the current year.

In the neighbouring parish of Carna, the number of pupils attending the five National Schools had dropped by almost 60% over the past 30 years.  In 1990, there were 340 pupils in the five schools; it has dropped to 136.

While communities in Conamara have highlighted the regions outstanding natural beauty and environmental features it appears, so far, that this has yielded little results in attracting school going families.

There is some evidence of people in the older age groups moving to areas in Conamara.   This has benefits for the general community, but it offers no immediate solution to the impending crisis for many schools.