Gary Gannon
Question:132. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education the reason some DEIS schools have not received a library and librarian under the scheme, while some other DEIS schools have. [52828/23]
View answerThursday, 30 November 2023
Questions (132)
Written answers
The Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP) was introduced in 1996 as a social inclusion programme aimed at students identified as being at risk of being socially or academically isolated or at risk of early school leaving before they achieved the Junior Certificate then in place. In 2002, under the Early Literacy Initiative, the JCSP Demonstration Library Project was initiated in eleven schools. The Demonstration Library Project provides schools with a professionally staffed library to support them in the provision of structured library and literacy programmes School librarians work as part of a network of librarians in the JCSP Demonstration Library Project.
Following the initial pilot project, a commitment was made under the 2005 DEIS Action Plan to extend the JCSP Demonstration Library Project to those DEIS schools ‘with the highest concentration of disadvantage’. By 2008, the JCSP Demonstration Library Project had expanded into a total of thirty schools across Ireland, all in designated areas of disadvantage. No new schools have been added to the project since 2008.
As part of the implementation of the Framework for Junior Cycle (2015), it was agreed to carry out a review of the JCSP and consider the extent to which the needs of students undertaking the JCSP are met through the Junior Cycle. The work of a review group established to progress this was paused as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated necessary shift in work priorities, and work is now ongoing to recommence the review.
In March 2023 my Department made an investment of over €50 million to provide free schoolbooks in primary schools and special schools. In Budget 2024, I was pleased to extend the free schoolbook scheme to more than 500,000 children at Junior Cycle at a cost of €47 million. Any surplus grant, after textbooks and other materials have been provided, can be used to purchase shared books, audio books and other material to increase the literacy (in English, Irish or other languages) and numeracy resources in a school.
Library space is provided as standard as part of all new primary and post primary school buildings and as part of some school extension projects. The standard provision at primary school is a combined Library and Resource space of 66m2. For schools of 32 classrooms and more, two such spaces are provided. At post primary level a single library space is provided, but the size is determined in proportion to the planned number of pupils at the school. A 1000 pupil school, for example, is provided with a Library sized at 178.9m2.