Sir, – On behalf of the History Teachers’ Association of Ireland (HTAI) I would like to welcome the statement by the new Minister for Education Joe McHugh that the status of history in the new Junior Cycle is to be reviewed. We endorse his comments that the study of history “gives our young people the opportunity to learn about, and learn from, key times and events in our history”.
If we deprive our students of this opportunity by making history optional in our schools, we will be doing them a huge disservice and will only ensure that a new generation of citizens will, in the words of President Michael D Higgins, “ be permanently burdened with a lack of perspective, empathy and wisdom”.
The HTAI look forward to the prospect of history being placed at the core of the new Junior Cycle as we face in to the next challenging year of this decade of centenaries and beyond. – Yours, etc,
DEIRDRE Mac MATHÚNA,
President, HTAI,
Donnybrook, Dublin 4.