Thursday, June 02, 2011

Multi-denominational schools are given green light by Quinn

Education minister Ruairí Quinn has announced that patrons of multi-denominational schools will be allowed to established new schools at second level.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of Educate Together, the patron body for multi-denominational schools, Quinn said he intended to ‘‘prioritise the development of a new framework for the recognition of new second-level schools in the context of the government programme’s commitment to plurality’’.

Educate Together was established in 1978, and it now runs almost 60 multi-denominational primary schools nationwide.

Quinn said that the organisation met all the requirements to operate as patron of second level schools, and he was ‘‘finalising proposals to bring to cabinet’’ to implement the government commitment ‘‘shortly’’.

The education minister also said that significant increases in the numbers of students meant that many new second level schools would be needed in the short-to-medium term.

Quinn added that the number of post-primary pupils, excluding PLC students, was expected to increase from 317,400 last autumn to more than 337,000 over the next six years.

The figures were ‘‘even more stark’’ in the long term, with estimates that second-level enrolments in 2024 could number more than 375,000.

‘‘That is a staggering increase over current levels," Quinn said.

The Department of Education will publish a full statistical report on enrolment projections next month.