School principals have said schools and colleges which provide Post-Leaving Cert courses should have a "minimum level" of student facilities to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body.

The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD), said further education courses were often delivered in mainstream schools where facilities were totally inadequate.

A submission from NAPD says all further education and PLC colleges should have crΦche and childcare facilites, student canteen, library with study and IT facilities, medical services, sports and recreational facilities, and guidance and counselling services.

The submission has been made to the review of the Post Leaving Cert sector.

One of those who prepared the report, Rory O'Sullivan of Killester College, Dublin, said the further education/PLC sector was the fastest growing in the education system, with student number rising from 12,000 in 1989 to 25,000 in 2000.

The submission says a formal structure should be set up at local or regional level to administer the sector.

The report says the number of students in the sector has risen to such a level that there is a need for a new body called the Institute of Further Education, which would approve courses in specific areas. It would also seek to prevent duplication among providers.

The NAPD submission says there is a network of "stand-alone" education centres spread around the State, among them VTOS centres, Travellers' centres, community training workshops and adult literacy facilities. The submission says of these: "Many operate without any formal management structure and are resourced in a variety of ways. Many depend on ad hoc local arrangements for secretarial, caretaking and cleaning services."

The NAPD submission recommends that these education centres be subsumed into or formally attached to the local school or college involved in further education. It also says asylum-seekers should be permitted to enrol on further education and PLC courses.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Education, Michael Woods, has announced a £5.4 million extension of the State's largest provider of PLC courses, Ballyfermot College of Further Education.