Special needs cut hits four Limerick schools
FOUR Limerick schools are to be affected by the Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe's plan to cut special teacher support for children with mild learning disabilities, it has been confirmed.
St Munchin's CBS, Shelbourne Road; Galvone National School; Corpus Christi NS Moyross and the Courtenay Boys School, Newcastle West are among the 119 schools across the country that will lose special needs teachers as part of the €7 million nationwide cost-cutting plan.
The proposal will see 534 children across the country who benefit from special needs teaching moved into regular classes and taught by mainstream teachers from the next school year.
Details of the measure, which was announced this week by the Minister without prior consultation with Irish National Teacher's Organisation (INTO), have been widely condemned.
Former Mayor and Labour Cllr Joe Leddin said that the proposal was "an absolute scandal" and accused the Government of once again picking on the most vulnerable areas of society in implementing cuts.
"If you speak to the parent of any child who depend on special needs teaching, they'll tell you that the child is brought on leaps and bounds. These teachers are not brought into schools on the possibility that there might be a child with a learning disability - they are provided when there is a child in direct need of their help.
"This reminds me of the Government's cervical cancer vaccine cutbacks before Christmas. They are picking on the most vulnerable people in society, people who in many cases are ultimately voiceless. This is mean, cruel and an absolute scandal."
Cllr Leddin added that it was particularly distressing that schools in designated regeneration areas are among those affected.
"Ministers - not just the Minister for Education, it must be said, but all ministers - are picking through their budgets of billions and targeting small projects of seven, eight, nine and ten million euros, searching for cuts," he said.
A total of 86 pupils are currently enrolled at St Munchin's CBS, with 156 at Galvone NS and 231 at Corpus Christi. All three schools were included the area schools development plan for Limerick City and its environs published late last year.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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