Mr. Paul O'Brien:

Yes. I thank the Deputy. She raised a lot of the challenges we face almost daily. The issue of trained teachers is huge. She asks whether there is progress. There is but it is mixed. I still visit schools in which the teachers are probably four or five years older than some of the students they are teaching and may themselves have completed only primary school. I have visited other schools in which the government has been a lot more serious about training teachers and ensuring there is a standard, but sometimes it is a bit of a mixed bag. It is very challenging to have female teachers in the rural areas, particularly as role models for girls going to school. One will often find that the teachers who have been naughty or bold have been sent to the areas farthest away. Rather than getting the best teachers, the students are probably getting the teachers who have misbehaved in other places. The quality of teaching is a bit of a mixed bag as a result. There is also the absence of female teachers in rural areas.

I totally agree with the point made about the language of quality and of inclusivity. Plan International Ireland has been really trying to ensure that children with disabilities gain access. One rarely sees children with disabilities in communities in sub-Saharan Africa because it is a shame to have a child with a disability. Working with the parents, the communities and the teachers, it takes a lot of convincing to get them to bring those children to school, ensuring they have the right to access education. Sometimes it may be a matter of ensuring there is a ramp at the school in order that the children can gain access. Sometimes it is a matter of ensuring that there is a toilet which can take a wheelchair or a child with a disability. Sometimes it is a matter of ensuring that one works with the teachers - we are doing that in various countries - in order that they can bring these children in and, rather than just showing them for having differences, showing that they have just the same ability as able-bodied children to access education.