Ten more teachers for Travellers

Ten new teachers are to be added to the Visiting Teacher Service for Traveller Children. This will increase the number of teachers working the service from 30 to 40. Visiting teachers consult with traveller families and advise and assist them in arranging school placements for their children. Announcing the expansion of the service, Minister for Education Michael Woods said that some 4,300 (or 90 per cent) of traveller children of primary school age were currently attending school. The numbers attending second-level, at 1,500, showed a "significant increase", he said.