Additional staff for Islamic school urged

THE appointment of two additional teachers to the Islamic school in Dublin was urged by Mr Alan Shatter (FG, Dublin South).

He said the school was located in the grounds of the Islamic Cultural Centre, Clonskeagh, which had been opened yesterday by the President, Mrs Robinson. It had 206 pupils and seven teachers.

"It has many children attending it who are Irish citizens and who were horn in Ireland. It also has a substantial number of children born outside the State who are now resident in Ireland with their parents.

"All the pupils have at least one parent who does not speak English as a first language and nearly 60 per cent of the children themselves do not speak English as their main language at home. Some children have little or no English and a number of pupils are in urgent need of remedial teaching."

The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Emmet Stagg, for the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, said that existing resources available to the Department did not permit the sanctioning of additional posts.

"However, I can assure the deputy that the needs of this school will be sympathetically considered by the Department as soon as additional resources become available."

He said Department officials were exploring the possibility of organising a course for the school staff on the methodology of teaching English as a second language, similar to a course arranged for those teaching the children of migrant workers.

The Minister was confident that such a course would prove very helpful to teaching staff in assisting them to overcome many of the difficulties being experienced at the school, Mr Stagg said.