Written Answers - Grant Schemes.
Trevor Sargent
Question:
229
Mr. Sargent
asked the
Minister for Education and Science
the nature of each grant scheme operated by his Department since the formation of the Government; the objective of the scheme; and the name of each body or individual grant aided under each scheme.
[25947/98].
The information requested by the Deputy is as follows:
Grant Scheme — Child care
Provision has been made available by my Department, in the financial years 1998 and 1999 for the provision of child care facilities for participants in the vocational training opportunities scheme, Youthreach, and senior traveller training programmes. In September this year the first grant installment of 1998 funds issued to each vocational education committee to contribute towards the cost of running centres, of purchasing places in community-based child care centres, and of funding child minders where places are purchased in commercial cre ches or child minders are used.
Scheme of grant aid to schools under the technology integration initiative of the Schools IT 2000 project.
The objective of this once-off grant, paid in the current year, is to enable schools to add to their information and communication technology infrastructure by purchasing computer equipment for classroom use. All recognised primary schools, special schools and all second-level schools recognised for grant purposes under the free education scheme have been grant aided.
The grants paid were as follows: ordinary schools — basic grant of £2,000 plus £5 per pupil in ordinary classes; special schools — basic grant of £3,000 plus £20 per pupil.
All ordinary schools with one or more special classes received an additional grant of £1,500 plus £20 per pupil in the special class or classes.
Scheme of grant aid to education centres under the Schools IT 2000 project.
The objective of this once-off grant is to enable education centres to add to their information and communication technology infrastructure by purchasing computer equipment to support the provision of ICT training to teachers. A grant of £6,000 is available to each education centre under the scheme. The following eight education centres have availed of this grant to date: Gortahork; Cavan; Laois; Mayo; Kilkenny; Wexford; Navan; Sligo.
The remaining 21 centres are expected to avail of the scheme in the near future.
Scheme of grant aid for individual special needs pupils under the Schools IT 2000 project.
With this scheme, I have put in place a special fund of £250,000 to cater for the ICT needs of individual special needs pupils, including those who are fully integrated into ordinary classes. It would not be appropriate to release the names of the individual pupils grant aided under this scheme.
Technology upgrades.
A grant scheme to assist second-level schools to upgrade pupil administration software was initiated in 1998. The objective of the scheme is to enable schools to migrate from an existing applications package to a more modern version, which is fully year 2000 compliant. Schools who do not have a software package at present will also be offered a grant to assist in the acquisition of the appropriate software. No funds have yet been disbursed under the scheme but it is intended that all second-level schools will be entitled to grant-aid.
Early school leavers initiatives
A total of £3.62 million is being made available under the recently launched early school leavers initiative for eight to 15 year olds.
The objective of this initiative is to pilot test models of response to the problem of early school leaving in selected areas of disadvantage.
A total of 14 project areas have been selected for inclusion in this phase of the initiative. The selected projects will be funded over the next two school years.
The selected projects are as follows:
Urban Consortia
Dublin
Ballymun, Dublin 11
Bonnybrook/Darndale/Priorswood/Clonshaugh, Dublin 17
Jobstown, Dublin 24
Killinarden, Dublin 24
Limerick
Rosbrien/Southill, Limerick City
St Munchin's Parish, Limerick City
Cork
Knocknaheeny/North West City
Mahon/Blackrock
Waterford
Ballybeg/Lisduggan, Waterford City
Towns Consortia
Ennis, County Clare
Navan, County Meath
Muirtheimhne Mór/Cox's Demesne, Dundalk
Rural Consortia
Bantry/Dunmanway County Cork
North Kerry, County Kerry
Pilot project on modern languages
A pilot project on modern languages has been introduced in approximately 270 primary schools. As part of this project, certain schools who do not have a teacher on staff capable of teaching one of the target languages, that is, Italian, French, German and Spanish, have been grant aided by the Department to enable them to source a teacher locally who will teach the language for a number of hours each week. The amount of the grant varies according to the number of children in fifth and sixth classes in each school. This grant has been termed the visiting teacher tuition grant.
In addition, each school participating in the project is being given a grant to assist with the purchase of resource-teaching materials associated with the project. The amount of the grant will vary from £200 to £500 depending on pupil numbers. This grant has been termed a resources grant.
Examinations
There are no new grant schemesper se in relation to examinations. I did however waive examination fees in respect of medical card holders or the children of medical card holders. This replaced a scheme of alleviation where schools were allocated amounts that could be offset against the total exam fee bill due from the school.
New grant schemes in the higher education area PLC grants
A maintenance grants scheme for participants on PLC courses was introduced with effect from the 1998-9 academic year. The rates of grant, income limits, and other criteria for eligibility are similar to those which apply to the third-level student support schemes.
Government of Ireland research scholarships
The Government of Ireland research scholarships in the humanities and social sciences were announced in June 1998 and have a budget of £500,000 for 1998. An interim council on the humanities and social sciences has been established to oversee the awarding of these scholarships. The interim council has approved a total of 48 awards to date.
Other initiatives
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Scheme
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Objective
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Funds 1998
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Paid to
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Counselling supports for early school leavers
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To meet the guidance, counselling and psychological needs of participants on Youthreach, traveller and community training workshop programmes for early school leavers
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£478,000
|
VECs
|
|
Women's education initiative
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To support access of disadvantage women to education, and inform furture to education, and inform future policy and practice in this area
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£300,000
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13 selected projects
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|
International teleservices PLC placement scheme
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To support costs of a 17 week placement abroad for students on PLC international teleservices courses
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£870,000
|
VEC/student
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