More teachers and funds for Gaeltacht isle schools
FIVE secondary schools on islands in the Gaeltacht are to receive additional funding and teachers from September to help keep their communities alive.
New grants from autumn will revitalise schools on five islands, guaranteeing a continued way of life for teachers, pupils, and the whole fabric of offshore existence.
Each school will get 50% more teachers, with a further ringfenced budget of €15,000 per school. A grant of €1,200 is also being made available to each school for the purchase of Irish-language teaching materials.
The schools on the Aran Islands of Inis Mór, Inis Meáin and Inis Oírr in Galway and Árainn Mhór and Tory Island in Donegal have about 230 pupils between them.
Education Minister Richard Bruton said yesterday he was ‘acutely aware of the challenging environment in which island schools operate, which is why we are supporting these schools with additional resources to meet their unique circumstances.’
There are five post-primary schools located on islands in the Gaeltacht in counties Galway and Donegal.
Gaeltacht Coláiste Naomh Eoin on Inis Meáin, Co. Galway – previously designated an adjunct of a school on the mainland – will in future be an independent stand-alone establishment, with a principal and deputy principal.
The local population on Inis Meáin wanted to keep the school open but didn’t have enough young people. They decided to bring in outsiders who wanted to learn Irish and experience island life, and the school now has more than 40 pupils. Under a Government scholarship system, secondary school students with a grá for the mother tongue live with host families on the island.
Classes run from first to sixth year and any transition-year students stay on to complete their Leaving Certificate on the island.
Several students from Dublin were recently interviewed for RTÉ News about their experience on the island and how it has changed their world view.
Joe McHugh, Minister for the Irish language, Gaeltacht and the islands, said: ‘These additional grants and extra teaching resources will go a long way in supporting this Government’s ambitions to sustain and grow the Irish language among the next generation.
‘The islands are valuable communities and this money demonstrates a clear vision for their Irish language-medium schools to be properly resourced and to expand and improve the teaching of key subjects such as the sciences.
‘I know this will make a huge difference to communities on the islands off Donegal and Galway and will be a welcome boost.’
The Gaeltacht Education Unit will, meanwhile, start a pilot project to link post-primary schools digitally from the next academic year.
If the project is successful in 2018/19, it will be extended to other interested schools in future, the minister pledged. This will make available additional subjects through the medium of Irish and offer an opportunity to embed computers in Irish teaching, learning and assessment.
Two teachers will be allocated to pilot an Irish-language development programme at post-primary level, designed to support Irish-language acquisition and fluency.
‘They are valuable communities’