Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome this debate. This is probably the Minister of State's last official visit to this House in her ministerial capacity. I acknowledge her commitment to her areas of responsibility in the Department, particularly school transport. That sector went through a difficult time in the past couple of years as a result of the tragedies that occurred. However, there has been a fruitful outcome to those problems. I also acknowledge the Minister of State's commitment to the adult and further education sector. I wish her a happy retirement from office and a fruitful time when she follows her stated intention to pursue an academic path. We look forward to seeing the fruits of her endeavours in that area.

One must welcome the additional resources mentioned by the Minister of State. They will help to improve the lifestyle and livelihood of many people who have lost out, in one way or another, in their careers to date. However, when one sees the resources being provided — they are necessary resources and some might consider them inadequate — it is difficult to understand how planners in the Department of Education and Science did not see fit to provide them at a much earlier stage in the education cycle given that the problems arose at that stage and were neglected. The necessary resources and input were not provided.

There is an unbelievable problem with adult literacy in this country. Adult education, back to education and other such schemes are worthwhile and laudable but when approximately 13,000 young people are dropping out of school prior to the leaving certificate, far greater resources should be focused on eliminating that problem at the source or at an early stage rather than tackling it piecemeal later. I cannot understand why the planners in the Department seem reluctant to do that.

The Minister will recall a matter that was raised on the Adjournment earlier this week. In that case tremendous work had been done by the home school liaison co-ordinators in schools but because the schemes were successful they are now being withdrawn. Why would somebody in the Department of Education and Science decide to punish these people because they have been successful in their endeavours? It cannot be seen in any other light.

Early identification of difficulties is acknowledged to be the important issue in solving problems that might arise. More than 1,600 schools do not have the National Educational Psychological Service or NEPS. Therein lies the cause of many of the problems that arise later with regard to literacy. Approximately 25% of our population are unable to read or perform simple English literacy tasks. That is a damning indictment of our failure in the initial stages of education. A great deal of good work is being done at adult level, which is important and welcome, but if only some effort or input had been made at an earlier stage. It amounts to a loss of resources.

This country has large class sizes. Some effort is being made to reduce their size, particularly in disadvantaged areas. However, the effort is not sufficient to provide the necessary tuition and the guidance and support mechanisms that are required to lift the people who have fallen behind. The tragedy is that when a person falls behind at an early stage, they fall out of the network probably for life. I urge the Minister of State to persuade the Minister to give her attention to schools which have been identified as needing home school liaison services. These services are crucial in terms of avoiding greater needs in the future.

Tremendous efforts have been made by various people and organisations to initiate and support adult and further education programmes and literacy schemes. Notable among these is the right to read scheme established by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, which provides funding to local authorities in the greater Dublin area for extending the opening hours of libraries and making them more child friendly to encourage reading. This praiseworthy pilot project should be established on a national basis.

We must pay tribute to the adult education officers employed by VECs throughout the country for the work they have done in the area of adult education and literacy skills at a time when no one else was addressing the issue. They identified the problem and, with the help of volunteers and teachers who went far beyond their normal duties, devised straightforward and low cost solutions. It is a credit to the VECs that they have sown the seeds of the programmes outlined today by the Minister of State.

Employers could play a significant part in improving the literacy levels of their staff and in promoting further education. Some companies have the resources to do this but, unfortunately, employers do not always respond adequately to the needs of low skilled workers. Their attitude to employees is often that they should simply get on with the jobs they were given, with no regard for improving literacy skills. It would be advantageous if employers were flexible enough to allow time off for training, even if such training were provided internally. I am aware a worker's self-esteem could be dented were he or she to be identified as having limited reading abilities but, if encouragement and support was shown, literacy levels could be significantly improved without great expense.

A review is needed of the guidance systems at all levels of the education structure. I commend NUI Maynooth on the efforts it has made to increase access by people with disadvantages. Maynooth's efforts demonstrate that by endeavouring to reach those who would not otherwise gain access to education, we can give them a chance of success. Ten years ago, the drop-out rate from third-level institutions was increasing rapidly. However, rather than singling out institutions which have encountered difficulties in that regard, I want to highlight the record of the Athlone Institute of Technology in preventing students from dropping out. The institute's success can be attributed to the community spirit it has developed by means of the guidance services on offer to students. Every student is regarded as an important part of the overall community. While we cannot pretend problems do not exist, we should acknowledge the work being done by individuals and managers of educational institutions to improve matters. However, unless we redirect resources to early education, we will continue to encounter problems at higher levels.

The back to education scheme is commendable but people who want to participate in part-time education are not being supported in terms of fees and maintenance grants, with the result that financial pressures continue to force them to drop out of education. If the Minister for Finance does anything for education in his Budget Statement, he should recognise the need to support part-time students through grants, as well as investing in the back to education scheme.