McHugh urges schools not in new DEIS programme to contact Department

Donegal TD Joe McHugh has urged schools which were not included in the latest DEIS-designated schools list to contact the Department of Education.

Minister McHugh said the new scheme was just the beginning of a new Government programme to help schools which need additional supports.

He also said it was “plain wrong” for anyone to say schools could not access information on their individual assessments.

“The inclusion of 20 new schools in Donegal in this additional resources programme – out of approximately 80 nationally – is a testament to how seriously this Government is taking education in this county,” said McHugh.

“The phasing in of schools not previously included in DEIS and who have been identified as accommodating the highest levels of concentrated disadvantage will begin from this September. 

“And that is the point here – this is just the beginning.”

Schools not included this year do have a right to the data used by the Deparment in their assessment, said McHugh.

Schools may seek verification of the data submitted by their school which has been used in the identification process by e-mailing a request to: social_inclusion@education.gov.ie.

Schools included in the list published on 13^th February are those whose level of concentrated disadvantage is equivalent to that currently applicable to primary urban Band 1 schools.

Schools which have not been included are those who have not been identified as being in that category.

McHugh added: “It should be noted that this initial identification process will be followed by a further programme of work to create a more dynamic model where levels of resource more accurately follow the levels of need identified by that model.     

“The fact that a school has not been included in the programme on this occasion does not preclude its inclusion at a later date, should its level of disadvantage warrant the allocation of additional resources. I have lobbied on behalf of many schools and will continue to do so, so that there is a better chance of it being included during the next phase of Minister’s Bruton’s review.”

Minister McHugh added: “I welcome the additional funding which will now go to 20 schools in our county.

“But I would also urge all schools which were not included in Phase One of this programme, and who believe they should have been, to contact the Department as soon as possible. I am happy to help any of them in this process.”

ENDS