Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 344: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when, or if, all or part of the school completion programme is under way in various parts of the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6655/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school completion programme, which was launched in 2002, incorporates the learning, experience and best practice derived from previous early school leaving initiatives, namely the eight to fifteen early school leaver initiative, ESLI, and the stay in school retention initiative, SSRI.

The school completion programme is a key component of my Department's strategy to discriminate positively in favour of children and young people who are at risk of early school leaving. The programme has been allocated €24 million in 2005 and is based on an integrated cross-community approach to tackling educational disadvantage, involving 82 projects in 21 counties, 300 primary and 112 post-primary schools, parents, communities and relevant statutory and voluntary agencies. It entails targeting individual young people of school going age, both in and out of school, and arranging supports to address inequalities in educational access, participation and outcomes.

A review of educational disadvantage programmes is currently being finalised by my Department and any decision to include additional schools in the school completion programme is being considered in the context of this review.