Madam, - In January Minister for Education Mary Hanafin announced details of up to 122 major school projects which will proceed to tender and construction over the next 15 months.
Two weeks ago she released the list of schools which will be invited to be involved in "local planning and construction" whereby school communities see to the completion of their individual projects.
By any measure, these announcements, coupled with those of Noel Dempsey for the school year 2003-2004, are a great improvement on the scene up to two years ago when Tuismitheoiri-Teagascóiri Chéile (tlc) was formed, before all educational partners focused on the national crisis of the lack of decent primary school accommodation and facilities.
That the five-year building plan is now a six-year plan running to 2010 is indicative of the sincerity of the present Minister and Government in tackling and resolve this problem. It is also very indicative of the neglect that pupils and their teachers have had to suffer for many years.
However, there are still dozens of schools which cannot get off the ground either because they don't have a site to develop for school building purposes, or because certain schools cannot, for whatever reason, gain access to the Department of Education's building list. This organisation calls for a vigorous Government campaign to purchase much-needed school sites and for the opening up of the building list to all needy schools.
Recently we have learned that 40 per cent of schools in the south-west lack yard space and PE, leading to the banning of running in their limited play spaces. The increase in obesity among children must be linked to the lack of space and PE facilities in our schools. - Is mise,
RICHIE COTTER, Chairman, tlc, c/o St Anne's National School, Shankill, Co Dublin.