'Still lack of school choice' in Leitrim states Educate Together

With no Educate Together in Leitrim, the multi-denominational patron body is calling on the Department of Education and Youth to "live up to the promise made repeatedly over the last three years, to launch a national survey of parental preference in school patronage"

 A statement to the Leitrim Observer clarified: "Educate Together is asking the government to formally announce the survey, including a specific launch date, facilitate a public discourse and national information campaign about school patronage and multi-denominational education, announce and ring-fence appropriate, adequate funding for schools wishing to transfer patronage ."

There are currently 118 schools in the Educate Together schools’ network, with 97 at primary level. 

The statement continued: "As a democratic organisation, Educate Together believes that parents being able to have a say in how their local school is run is vitally important, a right that is being denied to them by continuous delays in the DEY survey. 

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Leitrim as well as Roscommon and Longford are among the counties in Ireland where families continue to face limited or no choice in equality-based education. Leitrim and Longford remain entirely under religious patronage."

Edward Platt, Educate Together’s Schools Development Officer, stated: “Although there has been a very encouraging expansion of the Educate Together network over the past 10 years, government policy now makes opening new schools incredibly difficult, with local parents having far less input in the process. It is vital that the Department of Education and Youth formally announce the long-awaited survey immediately and give parents agency in shaping what education looks like in their local community.”    

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Edward continued:  “We know that there are many people who are interested to see if equality-based/multi-denominational education would be the right fit for their school communities. Most Educate Together schools are oversubscribed, and we frequently receive queries from families who have no school choice in their community. Every family in Ireland deserves the option of an Educate Together school, if that is the education they want for their children.”  

The statement concluded: "Educate Together is encouraging parents to contact their local TD and highlight school choice, reconfiguration and the delay of the parents’ survey as important issues for them. People who would like to see their local school reconfigured to a multi-denominational/equality-based ethos can also contact Educate Together at schooltransfers@educatetogether.ie  Educate Together schools are state-funded, child-centred and democratically run. They teach the national curriculum, and Ethical Education is taught in place of religion classes. Faith formation classes are offered in Educate Together schools outside of school hours. "