asked the Minister for Education the statutory instruments under which the curriculum of community schools is approved if they are not secondary schools which comply with the Rules and Programmes for Secondary Schools.
Written Answers. - Community Schools.
271.
There is no such statutory instrument. As I indicated in my answer to Questions Nos. 157 and 158 on 4 June 1986 the deed of trust for Community Schools provides, inter alia, that: “Subject to the provisions of the Minister as to the general educational character of the school and its place in the educational system the Board shall have the general direction of the conduct and curriculum of the school”.
272.
asked the Minister for Education whether the model lease or deed of trust for community schools contains regulations, rules or a scheme and is made in exercise of powers confirmed by statue; and, if so, the reason it has not been published as a statutory instrument under the provisions of the Statutory Instrument Act, 1947.
273.
asked the Minister for Education if he will give his response to the request from the County Kildare VEC meeting of 13 November 1978 in relation to the status of the model lease for community schools.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 272 and 273 together. The model lease or deed of trust for community schools is not a statutory instrument but is a model of a contractual agreement between the parties involved in the establishment of a community school. The provisions of the Statutory Instruments Act, 1947, do not, therefore, apply. My powers in the matter derive from the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924, and the State Property Act, 1954.
I am satisfied that there is nothing in the model lease which is unconstitutional.
274.
asked the Minister for Education the way in which the provisions of Rule 31 of the Rules and Programmes for Secondary Schools relating to the teaching of the subject civics, a non-examinable subject, can be binding on community schools if, as he says in his answer to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 157 and 158 of 4 June 1986, community schools are not secondary schools as defined in Rule 1 of the said Rules for Education.
The provisions in Rule 31 in relation to the admission of a community school pupil to the Intermediate Certificate Examination require that the pupil must have followed an approved Intermediate Course of not less than three years' duration as a pupil of a community school. The approved intermediate course includes the subject civics.