The Irish National Teachers Organisation has strongly criticised the Department of Education over conditions at a Dublin primary school for Muslim pupils.
A Department inspection report has found that the quality of teaching English and Irish at the North Dublin Muslim School in Cabra was “poor” or “very poor” and that morale among teachers was “very poor”.
Among its other findings, the report ruled that sanitary facilities were “inadequate” in the building, which formerly housed the School for the Deaf, and that child protection policies were not properly implemented.
The school caters for about 100 pupils.
A spokesman for Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe said this morning he was “very concerned about the serious weaknesses” described in the report, which is to be published tomorrow. He said the Minister was seriously concerned at the “unacceptable” management and teaching standards at the school and “inadequate” child protection measures.
The spokesman said officials from the Department have held two meetings with the patron of the school and the chairperson of the board to emphasise the need for swift action on their part to ensure improvement in the operation of the school. “The Minister is heartened to hear that at these meetings the patron and chairperson accepted the findings and recommendations in the report and their confirmation that the current board of management is fully committed to improving the school,” the spokesman said. He said school representatives have taken “a number of positive immediate steps” to address the shortcomings in the school”. These include putting an effective child protection policy in plan, regularising the school day and making provision for some subjects such as music that were not being taught at the time of the inspection. The school has also advertised for a permanent principal. The spokesman said Department officials will be regularly monitoring the situation at the school.
This morning, the INTO general secretary John Carr claimed the Department had failed to provide the school’s management with the necessary support and has made “no significant intervention” despite being aware of problems at the school.
He said the union wrote to the Department in 2004 complaining of irregularities in the employment of teachers and raised these concerns again the following year. The union also informed the authorities that the then Board of Management was in breach of employment and equality legislation.
However, Mr Carr said, the Department failed to act on these warnings.
“The Minister should be held to account because the Department knew for at least five years about problems in the school yet nothing was done,” Mr Carr claimed.
KILIAN DOYLE
Irish Times
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