Vol. 510 No. 5
209 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that programmes (details supplied) which are attempting to assist pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve good grades in their examinations cannot access any funds from the educational system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22980/99]
In June this year I announced a major new stay in school initiative. This marks a significant departure from traditional policy in that funding will be granted to schools on the basis of plans which they will be helped to design themselves. The underlying objective of the initiative is to establish a direct link between schools experiencing serious retention problems and my Department, with a view to agreeing multi-annual programmes of action with clear targets, which will be matched with appropriate resources. The core point is that schools themselves need to take charge of tackling early school leaving and I will give them the supports they need to make an impact. My Department has appointed two national co-ordinators to co-ordinate the initiative and assist participating schools to formulate their retention plans and targets.
Each participating school will prepare its plan based on the particular needs of the pupils and community that it serves. A key requirement of the plans will be that a school operates on a multi-agency basis and establishes cross-community links in delivering on its commitments. In this context, it will be open to a school to co-operate with local projects providing support services to its pupils. It would be open to a school receiving funding under the stay in school initiative, as part of its plan agreed with my Department, to make a portion of the additional resources which it receives available to a local project which is supporting the pupils of that school. Any arrangements of this nature would be entirely a matter for the participating school in question, subject to my Department agreeing this as part of the overall school plan.
