asked the Minister for Education, in light of the recognition of the Programme for National Recovery of the role of education in promoting racial equity, if she will give details of the specific measures for which spending has been earmarked in the 1989 Estimates, designed to be of benefit to the disadvantaged in education.
Written Answers. - Education in Promoting Racial Equity.
80.
It is presumed that "racial equity" should read "social equity".
As regards primary education the 1989 Estimates include a provision of £0.5 million for the continuation of a programme of special educational measures for disadvantaged areas which has been in operation since 1984. To date a total of £2.75 million has been spent on the programme which currently benefits approximately 48,000 pupils and which is aimed at alleviating the difficulties encountered in schools serving deprived areas.
The main benefits to the individual participating schools include special grants for the purchase of books and equipment, the promotion of home/school/ community liaison initiatives and the organisation of in-service training for the teachers concerned. Other measures include the provision of finance for the relief of school debts, grants for the purchase of equipment for pre-schools for travellers and the provision of curricular and educational assessment materials.
In the post-primary sector the Government's commitment to catering for the educational needs of the disadvantaged is borne out by the continuing provision in the 1989 Estimates for remedial and special class teacher posts in the sector generally and for prison and traveller education under the aegis of the VECs.
Following discussions between the relevant parties under the aegis of the Central Review Committee of the Programme for National Recovery, the Government have allocated additional teaching posts for the 1988-89 school year with a view to ensuring that the burden of the changes in the pupil/teacher ratio did not fall on the disadvantaged.