The school in question is a medium sized, rural national school at Derryoober, Woodford, County Galway. At present it is a three teacher school with a school population, on 31 September 1998, of 51 pupils, boys and girls. On 27 April last, the principal, a young, dedicated and enthusiastic teacher, and his equally dedicated and enthusiastic assistants received notice from the Department that the school would lose a teacher from September 1999 because, at the start of the previous school year, it was two students short of the required number to maintain their current staff of three.
If this withdrawal is implemented, 1 September 1999 will be a dark and dreary day at Derryoober national school. Four classes, following four different programmes and 31 children will be obliged to fit into a room measuring 19 feet by 18 feet. The teaching process will be daunting for the principal who will also have to carry out his duties as a principal. It will be impossible adequately to deliver the quality of education to which the students are now accustomed.
Is this the Minister's vision for education in the many rural national schools similar to this one? In the past he has described his vision of education with all the partners working together to ensure that the children of Ireland receive an education second to none. Can he reconcile that vision with the reality of this case?
In 1996 many other rural national schools were in a similar situation. Niamh Bhreathnach, then the Minister for Education, decided that, as a concession, all schools up to three students short of the required number would retain their existing teaching staff for a period of adjustment. The announcement made on Monday, 29 July 1996, stated: "To assist primary schools prepare for the new school year, the Minister for Education today announced that all primary schools which were due to lose a teacher in September owing to falling pupil enrolments will now keep their teacher if the pupil numbers are one, two or three pupils short of the number required to retain that teacher."
I appeal to the Minister for Education and Science, on behalf of the staff, parents, board of management and, most importantly, the pupils, to grant this school a temporary concession for the coming year. This school, like many others in rural Ireland is in a transition period. It is difficult to see why a school with 52 pupils can have only two teachers, the same number as a school with 14 pupils. A concession for the period of transition is all that is required. Rural decline is taking place and the Minister must not be the leader of this process. The quality of education to these pupils will decline. Is this what the Minister wants? Is this his vision for education in rural Ireland? A natural adjustment will take place over a period of four or five years in many rural schools. It is important that excess staff, as they are seen by the Department, can be used to provide an improved quality of education in small rural schools during this short period.
Let Derryoober national school retain its current teaching staff at the start of the school year of 1999 which leads into the new millennium. Let this not be the start of a cycle of rural withdrawl of education. Many initiatives have been taken in this historic school. I ask the Minister not to kill off a rural national school.
