John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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205. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the retention rates of students who complete the leaving certificate in second level DEIS schools in each of the years 2000 to 2018 and to date in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46580/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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The Delivery of Equal Opportunities in Schools (DEIS) was introduced to selected schools in the 2006/07 academic year. The first time the retention rate, where a student sits the Leaving Certificate examination, was calculated for DEIS post-primary schools was in 2007. This was for the sixth year of schools with DEIS status in the 2006/07 academic year. The retention rate for DEIS schools did not exists prior to 2007.

Since 2007, the retention rate for DEIS schools has risen from 68.2 per cent to 85 per cent in 2017 (see attachment, table 1). The gap between non-DEIS schools and DEIS schools, for the same period of time, has reduced from 16.8 to 8.5 percentage points. This is approximately an additional 2,500 students sitting their Leaving Certificate examination in DEIS schools since the programme was introduced.

The retention rate for 2018 examination sits is currently being calculated and due for publication shortly which will be forwarded to the deputy once it is available. The 2019 retention rate will be calculated and published in 2020.

Table 1: Retention rates of post-primary schools in DEIS, non-DEIS and National rate since 2007.