Threat to future of rural schools

Profile by Danielle Harney Updated: Friday, 25th March, 2011 9:30am

Proposals to amalgamate small primary schools in Offaly as part of a government cost review will be top of the teachers' agenda at their Easter conferences.

Seven primary schools around Offaly are included in a list of schools that have two or less teachers and less than 50 pupils according to 2010 enrolment figures from the Department of Education. Now a Value For Money Review board will examine if the amalgamation of such schools would be cost effective.

A deadline for submissions regarding the amalgamation proposals from concerned schools and parents passed last Friday, however many schools were unaware of the opportunity to submit their views on the plans.

Two of the schools included in the department's list are in the Kilcormac area - St Cormac's NS and St Chiarain's of Broughall.

The INTO branch secretary for the Birr region, Liam Broderick, said:

"It's a very large concern for rural schools. In many rural areas, there's a school, a church, a GAA field and a shop. It's the focus of the community, if you take away the school you take away the identity of the community.

"A rural school is also a fairly big employer - there would be two teachers, a SNA (special needs assistant), a secretary and a caretaker.

"It could be in the community for 150 years - generations of the same families would have attended that school and now the department is saying it has to close just because the numbers have dropped below 50 pupils.."

Mr Broderick said the schools need to have their say before any amalgamation goes ahead.

"No amalgamation should take place without the consent of all parties involved."

The Department of Education said that among the issues that will need to be taken into account are the impact of school closures on dispersed rural communities, parental choice, the availability of diversity of school provision and the additional cost of school transport.

"There are no plans to undertake an immediate large-scale programme of small school closures at this time.

The exception to this is small schools where the question of closure would arise in the normal course under the current sustainability limits," it said.

Local schools with less than two teachers (2010 figures):

Mountbolus NS, Tullamore, 42 pupils

St Cormac's NS, Kilcormac, 27 pupils

SN St Chiarain's, Broughall, Kilcormac, 27 pupils

Gaelscoil Éadan Doire, Edenderry, 42 pupils

Cloneyhurke NS, Portarlington, 38 pupils

Sts Peter and Paul's NS, Horseleap, 33 pupils

Scoil Ros Com Rua, Roscrea, 30 pupils