It is estimated that 95 per cent of Travellers are illiterate. Anne Byrne finds out what it will take to bring a marginalised group in from the educational cold

Back in the heady days of 1995, the White Paper on Education set out the following targets: "The overall policy objective is that, within 10 years (2005) all Traveller children of second-level school-going age will complete junior cycle education and 50 per cent will complete the senior cycle." With three of the 10 years still to go, it might seem a little premature to complain that this target will not be reached. But, the reality is that to sit the Junior Cert in 2005, all young teenage Travellers should already be enrolled in second level.

And that is far from the case. In the words of Margaret Madden, the acting director of St Colmcille's Senior Traveller Centre in Tullamore, Co Offaly: "We're miles away from that objective."

The context is shocking: it is estimated that up to 95 per cent ofTravellers are illiterate; many older Travellers attended school for the purposes of receiving Holy Communion and Confirmation only.

When I visited St Colmcille's recently, some of the men and women behind the statistics told of their anger at their own past difficulties and the difficulties their children are now experiencing in mainstream schools.

A small number of the 35 trainees in St Colmcille's will take three Junior Cert subjects - English, maths and home economics - next year. Others are working towards FETAC certificates. But, most will settle for certificates of achievement for various modules, as they must be literate to complete the FETAC national foundation certificate.

So, what do they need to help them in attaining a reasonable level of education? More tuition? Maybe. More time to read? Maybe. More practice at writing? Maybe. More books? Maybe.

The unanimous answer of a group of articulate, mature women (mothers and grandmothers) sitting around a table in the comfortable centre is much more basic - a toilet and running water. For Travellers, the barriers to education are often situated outside the education system itself.

An integrated approach is essential. How can you expect someone to care about computer skills when he or she lives in a caravan with inadequate heating and a leaking roof? There's an accommodation crisis in Tullamore, with an official halting site (with very good facilities), an unofficial site, unofficially called "the sewerage", and a roadside site (with no facilities).

One mother, who lives by the roadside, says: "When your child wakes up at 2 a.m. you're not going to get into the car and drive to public toilets. Children will go anywhere. There are rats on the site and there's a lot of disease." Asthma is also a major health issue, with the roadside dust blamed. Absence from school due to illness is common.

The Guidelines on Traveller Education in Primary Schools, issued this year, note that in 1998, 24 per cent of Travellers (about 1,000 families) were living in unserviced sites or on the sides of the road. For these families little has changed since a 1986 ESRI report concluded: "The circumstances of the Irish Travelling People are intolerable. No humane or decent society, once made aware of such circumstances, could permit them to persist." Yet persist they do. Another mother tells of trying to get her children's school uniforms clean, boiling water on a stove. A local laundry refused to take in her clothes, even though she pleaded with the owner to take the uniforms, if nothing else. She travels to Portlaoise to get the family's clothes washed.

Many of the women speak of discrimination in school and prejudice from some teachers and students. Some say discrimination is worse now than it was five years ago. Modules on Traveller culture should be provided in school to increase awareness among settled pople, they say.

St Colmcille's and the other senior traveller training centres in the State provide a vital service for those who have found mainstream schools too difficult. In Tullamore, the 35 trainees study a wide variety of subjects including horticulture, cookery, consumer education, Junior Cert subjects, social and personal skills and Traveller culture.

One man (there are nine attending the centre, out of a total of 35), aged 47, says he has flashbacks to four years ago, when he first called in. The questions came thick and fast. Can you write your name? Can you read? Have you ever done any woodwork? He had to answer "no" to everything.

Today, he makes bird-tables, wooden wheelbarrows and benches. Proud of his newly-acquired woodworking and literacy skills, he says he is "not a real good scholar yet. But, I can write my full name and address. When I'm driving I can make out the names of the towns on the signposts."

For a Traveller woman with children aged four to 17, literacy means being able to help with homework. It means having the privacy to read her own letters. And, it means she can access the internet, in St Colmcille's. In 2002, surely her access to education - albeit late - and subsequent literacy should be the rule.

The centre had the services of a counsellor/psychologist for one day each week until last January. When she left, the position was advertised, and re-advertised, but there are no takers for a job that spans five centres. Many of the Traveller women miss the opportunity to discuss their problems. "It was like you could tell it (the problem) and leave it behind," explains one woman.

SO, what are the rewards for the dedicated staff working in St Colmcille's? Sitting in the staffroom, feelings run high as staff discuss the problems of those who are employed on a temporary, part-time basis.

One staff member says: "You could work in three centres, with 100 different students with different needs and problems. You have to come in early to prepare, and leave later than your specified hours. To become permanent you need a degree related to your subject area. There are no identifiable paths for subjects such as life skills and social and personal skills, yet these are core areas. There should be a path for people to get recognised qualifications. We'd travel to the moon to do it."

Surely, if Traveller education is a priority for the Government, it's time to act in a co-ordinated manner, supporting teachers and learners. Education has become a priority for many Traveller parents who are anxious that their children stay the course at second level.

The recent publication of guidelines, by the Department of Education and Science (following consultation with the major interest groups) is a step in the right direction. The recent legislation on trespassing may act as a deterrent if Travellers have to move more frequently.

To restate the obvious: educational disadvantage must be tackled in tandem with social disadvantage. Obstacles to homework and schoolwork (and basic quality of life), such as lack of toilets and laundry facilities, must be remedied if real progress in literacy and numeracy is to be achieved.