Vol. 513 No. 6
68 Mr. Boylan asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will urgently develop a database on children with special needs in the education system in order that a coherent approach to planning for the meeting of their needs will be put in place. [3160/00]
At present, my Department collects statistics in relation to the number of pupils with special needs attending special schools and special classes attached to mainstream primary schools. In addition, statistics are also gathered in relation to the number of Traveller children attending primary schools where a resource teacher for Travellers is sanctioned.
My Department is currently in the process of planning to extend the range of data gathered on special needs pupils as part of the development of a comprehensive database on individual primary school pupils. The new database will provide critical information to support the implementation of policies in the special needs area targeting specific and appropriate supports to those children most in need. It will also provide data for research and policy development purposes.
The development of a database on all primary school pupils is a very significant undertaking involving the collection and processing of information on 450,000 pupils from more than 3,300 primary schools. It will take at least three years to put the full database in place and an allocation of £4.5 million has been provided for this purpose over the next three years, including £500,000 in the current year.
The IT unit of my Department is currently preparing a development plan for the project and it is intended to implement a first phase in a pilot group of schools during the coming school year.
