Call for database to track vulnerable children
The Government should set up a database to track the vulnerable children who drop out before secondary school, it was claimed today.
There are up to 1,000 children, mainly from disadvantaged areas and the travelling community, who leave school before the age of 12.
Sinn Féin TD Sean Crowe said a primary school pupils database would allow the Government to track these children.
“The Minister for Education needs to introduce a primary school database and ensure all schoolchildren make the important transition into secondary school and to make sure that no child is left behind,” he said.
Mr Crowe, who is the Sinn Féin Education spokesman, said that the Government had done nothing despite such a database being recommended by both the Educational Disadvantage Committee and the children’s charity Barnardos.
“The effect of pupils dropping out of the education system will not only cost the child by hampering their future, but will also affect the larger community and society in general if these pupils resort to anti-social behaviour as a means of filling the vacuum left by leaving school,” he said.
He added that said it was extremely disturbing that 80% of traveller children did not carry on to secondary education.
In its annual progress report, Barnardos gave the Government a ‘D’ in the area of school drop outs. It said that the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), which is supposed to deal with school truancy, was underfunded and had only 83 inspectors to cover the whole country.
It is calling on the Government to set up a primary school database, to increase funding for the NEWB and to ease the transition from primary to secondary school for vulnerable children by providing student mentoring systems, information sessions in sixth class and more extra curricular activities.
The Economic and Social Research Institute has calculated that if young people could be prevented from dropping out of school before their Junior Certificate, it would save €14m on future costs such as welfare payments and further education and training.
