Vol. 506 No. 2
448 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will report on the progress of policy development within his Department on meeting the schooling needs of children from programme refugees, other refugees and asylum seeking families resident in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15425/99]
The policy being implemented by my Department in relation to educational provision for the children of all refugees and asylum seekers is to provide free access to schooling for all categories of such children and young people of school-going age.
Additional teaching posts have been sanctioned for primary schools which are catering for substantial numbers of such pupils. In the case of post-primary schools additional teaching hours are provided to VEC schemes or individual schools when required.
Consideration is being given at present as to the most efficient way of catering for the needs of primary schools having relatively small numbers of pupils from refugee or asylum seeking families, whether by per capita grant to the school or the sanction of part-time teaching services to provide for the additional language tuition which may be required.
With regard to the recently arrived Kosovan refugees, provision will be made for them in the schools nearest to the centres where they are resident. The needs of these schools in terms of additional staffing and accommodation is being examined by the inspectorate as a matter of urgency. In the meantime I have decided to fund the provision of English language courses during the summer period so that the Kosovan refugee children will be in a better position to benefit from the education provided in schools when they are enrolled in September.
The refugee language support unit established recently under the auspices of Trinity College will advise on the particular language needs of refugees in schools.
