Students can get free year on Aran with island scheme

In our native tongue you might call it a ‘bua bua’ situation – there are students who love Irish or just want to improve their grasp of the language and there’re are island schools that needs to keep up pupil numbers . . . so if you marry the two, everyone’s a winner.

Which is why the Island Scholarship Scheme may well be one of the best ideas – as well as one Ireland’s best kept secrets.

Funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, ‘Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge’ offers a once in a lifetime opportunity vis-à-vis full scholarship for an entire academic year on the five offshore post-primary schools in Ireland.

Three of them are on Aran – Coláiste Naomh Éinne on Inis Mór, Coláiste Ghobnait on Inis Oírr and Coláiste Naomh Eoin on Inis Meáin – along with Gairmscoil Mhic Diarmada (Óileán Árainn Mhór), agus Coláiste Pobail Cholmcille (Oileán Thoraí) in Donegal.

Recipients of the €5,000 scholarships are awarded the golden opportunity to experience total immersion in Gaeltacht life and culture.

Places are open to students from first to sixth year, and boarding accommodation with a host family is also provided.

“The schools on these islands are the heart and spirit of their respective communities,” says Bríd Ní Dhonnacha, Príomhoide at Coláiste Ghobnait on Inis Oírr.

But depopulation of offshore islands coupled with changing demographics and a modern persuasion towards smaller families, poses a very real threat to the future prosperity of Gaeltacht island communities.

Census figures reveal the five islands shared a collective population of 4,506 in 1901, compared with 1,909 in 2011 – that’s a 42% drop in population.

But this is a two-way street – because while the schools need the students, there’s plenty in this too for the visiting students themselves….the culture, recreational activities, friendliness and sense of community that life on a small island brings

From an academic perspective, the immersive experience offered by their scholarship programme, says Bríd, “could be the difference between your first choice and your second choice” – because, as she says: “when it comes to the CAO, those five or ten points are gold dust”.

These island schools commit themselves to cultivating the inquisitiveness of youth, quenching their thirst for knowledge and instilling confidence in conduct of their teanga dúchais.

But Bríd also admits that these offshore schools also face “unique challenges” not experienced by mainland schools.

It’s hard to find teachers who are willing and able to teach through Irish at second level – and then to convince them to live on a remote and secluded island.

Last year, the €1,658 island allowance for offshore teachers was cut from the budget. Bríd says this supplement needs to be reinstated – immediately.

“It is not attractive for teachers to apply for a job on an island school,” she says.

“With it comes leaving your family on the mainland and relocating to the island. It would not be feasible to commute on a daily basis to the islands and often there are not full teaching hours with the vacancy.

“For teaching on an island to be enticing, we need to have the island allowance reinstated,” she says.

Other crucial proposals also need to be implemented to safeguard the future of island schools.

These include ensuring air services between islands and the mainland, reinstating island allowance, increasing teacher quota from one to 2.5 (to allow for curricular provision), and increasing the schools budget by €10,000 (to offset additional transport and servicing costs), ensuring there are at least two management roles per school.

They also want to increase the number of residential scholarships from ten to twenty per island school.

“These are not wants – they are needs – for island schools to survive,” she insists.

Despite their troubles, island schools also possess distinct advantages like their low pupil to teacher ratio, ‘way above average’ CAO points, wide range of extracurricular activities and sporting facilities, safe environment, independent learning and personal development.

One scholarship student with Coláiste Ghobnait, Inis Oírr, said the experience “opened my eyes to my heritage, nationality and the realisation of how important community and culture is”, adding that both host family and teachers helped to create a “positive learning experience”, bestowing her with “the gift of enriching my Irish”.

At the moment, the schools are struggling to cope with budgetary cuts to financial aid and lack of resources – and it’s a fight they are determined to win.

“If there’s no school, there’ll be no island life – it really is the heart of the community. We want to keep the islands inhabited and keep the culture alive,” says Bríd.