Senator Jimmy Harte has welcomed the news that the Department of Education has announced extra special needs classes for the following schools in Donegal.
Senator Harte
” I congratulate Ruairi Quinn , Minister for Education, who has shown a commitment to special needs in providing funding during a difficult economic time in the country.
“The news will of these extra special needs classes will be welcomed by parents and students who have been campaigning for this kind of news.
Minister Quinn has been willing to engage with parents and groups and on his recent visit to Donegal he was met several groups who had an interest in this area of special education”.
Senator Harte said he is following through on his commitment and the promise that the Labour Party will protect the marginalised in society and that is a core value that is demonstrated in the news today.
“Hopefully this news will be of value to the schools and special needs teachers who have been under severe pressure from the budget adjustments that this government inherited. The investment in education will pay dividends.”
118 new classes for children with special needs are to open this month in schools nationwide
· They will cater for over 700 children with special needs in 113 mainstream primary and post primary schools
· This applies to children with significant needs who cannot be educated in a mainstream class, for example some children with autism or a specific speech and language disorders
· These classes have lower pupil-teacher ratios than mainstream classes, with ratios from 1:6 to 1:11
· It will bring the total number of special classes to over 740 in mainstream schools, catering for over 5,000 children with special needs when all classes are open:
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