Primary schools in Co Roscommon have focused attention on the need for disadvantaged status for many rural schools. A recent report on 58 primary schools in the county highlights "definite areas of educational disadvantage," says Eileen Fahy, who drafted the survey for Roscommon Partnership.

"The plight of rural communities distanced from urban concentrations, as is the case in most primary schools in the county, will worsen unless the balance is redressed immediately," she said. The issue was raised at the recent INTO Congress in Galway.

The survey had a response rate of 60 per cent. It shows that a remedial teacher is available to the average school for about 3.5 days a month. Other issues highlighted included a lack of psychological services and resource personnel such as speech therapists and resource teachers, the need for transitional arrangements from primary to second-level school and poor hygiene conditions.

"Given the rural nature of Roscommon and the dispersed nature of the population, the difficulties that arise in the provision of back-up services to students are significant," says Fahy, who is education and training co-ordinator with Roscommon Partnership.