Sir, – Last week, in response to a parliamentary question about the Government’s failure to provide for funded school libraries, with a qualified librarian, for all 235 Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (Deis) schools, Tánaiste Micheál Martin fell back upon a positive, but unrelated, initiative: the Government’s provision of free textbooks to primary school students this year. The Tánaiste’s response is typical of a tendency among politicians to conflate school libraries with quantities of books stacked on shelves, and to disregard the enormous benefits that dedicated library spaces, staffed by professional librarians, are proven to deliver to schools.
The Department of Education cites Deis, which “focuses on targeting additional resources to those schools included in the programme to ensure every child has an equal opportunity to achieve their potential” as its “main policy initiative to respond to educational disadvantage” – but as yet, only 30 out of 235 Deis schools have been included in the internationally-respected Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP) Demonstration Library Project.
In their recent reports on Leaving Certificate Reform (2022) and Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education (2023), the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science recognised the importance of school libraries to student learning and experience of education, and cited the expansion of the Junior Certificate Schools Programme (JCSP) Demonstration Library Project as being “an urgent national priority”.
It is heartening to hear the Tánaiste declare his government’s commitment to “strengthen the resources around libraries in schools”, but concrete action is needed to ensure that young people are given a fair start in life. Given the record budget surpluses projected this year and next, there is little excuse for not commencing the expansion of the JCSP Demonstration Library Project to all Deis schools without further delay. – Yours, etc,
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KATHLEEN MORAN,
Chairperson,
ANDREA DILLON,
Secretary,
School Libraries Group,
Library Association of Ireland,
Dublin 2.