Vol. 513 No. 6
89 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science the information, if any, his Department collects on the rate of transfer of students from first to second level schools; the numbers who drop out of the system at this point; if he will introduce a countrywide tracking system so that these children can be identified and catered for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3316/00]
The rate of transfer from primary school to post-primary school stood at 98.7% for the school year 1997-98, the latest year on which statistics are available. The provision of accurate, up-to-date information or early school leaving is, I believe, an important tool in addressing this problem. My Department is currently in the process of planning the development of a compre hensive database on individual primary school pupils. The new database will provide critical information, including the rate of transfer from first to second level schools. This database, and its use in strategies to combat early school leaving, will be given statutory underpinning by section 29 of the Education (Welfare) Bill, 1999 which is in the course of enactment in this House.
The development of a database on all primary school pupils is a very significant undertaking involving the collection and processing of information on 450,000 pupils from more than 3,300 primary schools. It will take at least three years to put the full database in place and an allocation of £4.5 million has been provided for this purpose over the next three years, including £500,000 in the current year. The information technology unit of my Department is currently preparing a development plan for the project and it is intended to implement a first phase in a pilot group of schools during the coming school year.
