Dan Boyle
Question:738 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Education and Science the programmes operated by his Department in the area of school retention, contrasting money spent and numbers involved with the previous academic year. [21330/03]
Written Answers. - Educational Programmes.
The approximate expenditure on programmes with a specific focus on the area of retention, including the school completion programme, the National Educational Welfare Board and youth encounter projects, was €16 million for 2002. The equivalent allocation for 2003 is €29.2 million, allowing for considerable additional investment this year in the school completion programme, which was made available under the National Development Plan 20002006 with the assistance from the ESF and in the development of the services of the National Educational Welfare Board.
The main programme within my Department for tackling early school leaving is the school completion programme which was introduced in 2002. The school completion programme builds on two previous initiatives, namely the eight to 15 early school leaver initiative and the stay in school retention initiative at second level. The objective of the SCP is to provide a range of interventions in areas of disadvantage that support the retention of young people in education through in-school, after-school, out-of-school and holiday time supports.
A total of 82 projects, consisting of 112 post-primary schools and 288 main feeder primary schools participate in the project strand of SCP. In addition, 53 SSRI schools, which were not selected for inclusion in the project strand of the school completion programme, continue to be funded on a phasing out basis under the stay in school retention strand of the programme over the next three years up to 31 August 2005. Total funding of €23 million has been provided for the programme in 2003. In 2002 to 2003, the target group identified for support under the school completion programme, including the SSRI strand is approximately 18,000.
Expenditure on the school completion programme in 2002 was €14.2 million, which supported 17 projects – 29 post-primary and 51 primary schools – under the eight to 15 early school leaver initiative and 118 post-primary schools under the stay in school retention initiative. A total of 9,527 young people at risk of early school leaving or who had already dropped out of the system were targeted in 2001 to 2002. A budget of €5.4 million has been allocated to the board for the current year. Expenditure in 2002 was €1 million.
There are five youth encounter projects. Three are in Dublin and one each in Cork and Limerick, which are supported by the Department to provide educational facilities for young people aged between ten to 15 years who have become alienated from the conventional mainstream education system. Many of the pupils are persistent truants and have become involved in, or are at risk of becoming involved in, minor crime and delinquency. The primary objective of the youth encounter projects is to rehabilitate these pupils and return them to mainstream education in the shortest time possible. The projects liaise closely with specified schools in their catchment areas. Expenditure on the youth encounter projects in 2002 was €806,000 and the allocation for 2003 is €915,000.