I welcome the Minister. What we are debating on the Adjournment is the case for sufficient and adequate remedial teaching in St. Paul's primary school in North Brunswick Street, the old school around the corner. Specifically what I am looking for today is a remedial teacher for the school.
The school is in the inner city and has a very large number of pupils in need of remedial attention. If we leave out sixth class, there are 240 pupils in the school and 109 need remedial attention in English. In relation to mathematics, 92 pupils are in need of remedial teaching. We are talking about roughly 50 per cent of pupils being in need of remedial attention for English and 40 per cent for mathematics. That is a substantial level of disadvantage that needs attention.
In the city of Dublin, there are about 415 primary schools and 330 of them have sanction for remedial teachers. They have sanction for remedial teachers in very affluent areas but here we have an inner city school and we do not have a remedial teacher in the area, despite the commitments to address deprivation and the social responsibilities of the Government and the social partners under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress.
The other primary schools in the area — Stanhope Street, St. Gabriel's in Cowper Street or George's Hill — have remedial teachers and have had them for ten years. It is North Brunswick Street school that is the exception. In North Brunswick Street school we are talking about second to sixth year at the junior level. Pupils from the junior schools I have mentioned, Stanhope Street, George's Hill, St. Gabriel's or St. Paul's receive remedial attention but they come into the higher primary level where there is no remedial teaching. In secondary level, generally in St. Paul's, there is remedial teaching but for four or five years youngsters are left in limbo without the benefit of trained remedial teachers to address their problems. That is very serious.
It might not be so bad if the school were located in an affluent area, if the numbers requiring remedial teaching were not so high, and if there were sufficiently small classes. However, we have a major problem dealing with the educational needs of the community in this area and the staff efforts are severely curtailed by the absence of a trained remedial teacher. If an allocation were granted one of the existing teachers — there is a concessionary post filled by a teacher at present — could be seconded to St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, do the training course and then return to the school as a trained remedial teacher. Once there is sanction for a remedial teacher, the school will be entitled to the special equipment which is not available to the school at present. This means the school suffers on two fronts.
I ask the Minister to consider the needs of the children in the area. The youngsters come from a difficult background and need the maximum support to break out of the cycle of poverty and deprivation that surrounds the entire area on the north side of Dublin. We should ensure that the maximum support is given by the Department of Education and no stone should be left unturned to give these children the best education possible. That is not happening at present and until we recognise that there is a need for remedial teachers, we are seriously neglecting these children who are not being given the best opportunity to prepare for the future.
