DAIL REPORT: Up to 40,000 pupils in primary schools are not being taught by qualified teachers, the Fine Gael spokeswoman on education, Ms Olwyn Enright, told the Dáil. This was not acceptable, she said. "The most affected are people in disadvantaged areas."
The Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, agreed that it was unacceptable to have a shortage of primary schoolteachers, but such situations were not changed overnight. The intake to the colleges of education in the 2001/02 academic year had increased to a record 1,461, compared with an intake of 500 in 1996-97. Some 3,460 students were enrolled and were pursuing various stages of primary teacher-training programmes.
His Department was examining the feasibility of providing a modular-type course for second-level trained teachers currently teaching in primary schools who held the Higher Diploma in Education and the necessary academic requirement in Irish. The proposal would be discussed with the colleges of education in the near future.
Questioned by the Green Party spokesman on education, Mr Paul Gogarty, on his review of the possible reintroduction of third-level fees, Mr Dempsey said a consideration was that well-off people who could afford third-level education had benefited from the abolition of fees.
