John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 272: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the school retention information for counties Sligo and Leitrim will be provided; if the school dropout level has decreased in these areas; the funding she will provide to tackle educational disadvantage in counties Sligo and Leitrim; the number of children in counties Sligo and Leitrim that do not make the transition from primary to secondary school; the number of females and males that continue their education and sit the leaving certificate in counties Sligo and Leitrim; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31077/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department's second report on school retention, published on 19 October 2005, is based on a detailed analysis of the records held in the post-primary pupils database for the cohort of entrants to the first year of the junior cycle in each of the years 1995 and 1996. The figures refer to retention in State-aided second level schools only and do not include students progressing to further training and education at junior or leaving certificate level, for example Youthreach, FÁS, apprenticeship training as well as students in private, non-aided colleges at second level.

The report shows: national retention rate to completion of the junior certificate examination is 94.6%; national adjusted retention rate to completion of the leaving certificate examination is 81.3%; percentage of pupils who sat the junior certificate in counties Leitrim and Sligo at 96.8% and 96.1% respectively; percentage of pupils who sat the leaving certificate in counties Leitrim and Sligo at 87.1% and 82.7% respectively; of the cohort of 1,017 pupils in County Sligo, 458 females and 383 males sat the leaving certificate; and of the cohort of 497 pupils in County Leitrim, 225 females and 208 males sat the leaving certificate.

Comparisons between the Retention Rates of Pupils in Second Level schools — Cohort 1994, published by the Department of Education and Science in May 2003, and the most recent retention report show that there has been no increase in dropout rates for completion of the junior certificate, a decrease in dropout at senior cycle of 0.6% in County Leitrim and a decrease in dropout at junior cycle of 0.5% and a decrease in drop-out at senior cycle of 0.2% in County Sligo.

There is no up-to-date research on the number of children who do not transfer from primary to post-primary education on an annual basis. The Department of Education and Science is planning the development of a primary pupils database, which will facilitate the collation of much more accurate and comprehensive data on transfer rates in the future. Together with the current post-primary pupil database, this will allow much-improved tracking of where children go after primary school. We are providing increased resources for schools in disadvantaged areas to improve their school completion rates by offering extra supports for their students. These include extra educational supports and services in school, after school and during holiday times. Working with parents to promote school attendance is also an important part of the work of the home school community liaison officers appointed to our disadvantaged schools.

Other measures designed to improve school completion include the establishment of the National Educational Welfare Board in 2002. The priority the Government attaches to tackling early school leaving is evident from the fact that the budget for the welfare board has been increased by 20% in 2005. In addition, €24 million is being provided this year for the school completion programme and there is currently one school completion project in County Sligo.

The new action plan for educational inclusion, delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, which will be introduced on a phased basis — starting during the current school year — aims to ensure that the educational needs of children and young people, from pre-school to completion of upper second-level education, from three to 18 years, from disadvantaged communities are prioritised and effectively addressed. The new plan will involve an additional annual investment of some €40m on full implementation. It will also involve the creation of approximately 300 additional posts across the education system generally.

A key element of this new action plan is the introduction of a standardised system for identifying levels of disadvantage in our primary and second level schools, which will result in improved targeting of resources at those most in need. As a result of the identification process, approximately 600 primary schools, comprising 300 urban or town and 300 rural, and 150 second-level schools will be included in a new school support programme, SSP. The SSP will bring together, and build upon, a number of existing interventions for schools and school clusters or communities with a concentrated level of educational disadvantage. Under DEIS, additional clusters will be created under the school completion programme which provides a wide range of targeted supports on an individual and group basis to children and young people who may be at risk of early school leaving.

We anticipate being in a position to notify participating schools of the outcome of the ongoing identification process by the end of the year.