Sir, – Your Editorial “Improving literacy” (December 8th) refers to the Government commitment that all children leaving National Schools by 2020 will be able to read.
I am sceptical. Our schools have lost teachers and class sizes have increased.
I am one of 50 volunteers who have worked with Barnardos’ Wizard of Words Literacy programme. We are fully trained, police-checked, older people who help children in disadvantaged areas to read. We have been acclaimed by a team from NUIG who monitored our progress. Barnardos ceo Fergus Finlay stated that thanks to our input, children will go on to do Leaving Certificate who might otherwise not have done so.
We are now redundant, because Barnardos has not got the funds to pay for the two leaders who enable the programme.
Is it too much to ask the Minister for Education to employ two people so that 50 dedicated volunteers will be enabled to change the lives of inner city children by helping them to read? – Yours, etc,