JENNIFER GARAHY,
Sir, - I am writing in response to the article by Emmet Oliver, Education Correspondent, entitled "Paying for the privilege" (The Irish Times, October 1st), which dealt with the growth in pupil numbers at fee-paying private secondary schools in south Dublin.
The article mentioned the falling enrolment numbers in non- fee-paying schools in the area.
As a resident of south Dublin, I can cite one overlooked reason for this. The eight non-fee-paying schools mentioned were all single-sex: six boys' schools and two girls' schools. Not one of them was co-educational.
There has been a quiet change among some middle-class Catholic parents from the Catholic single-sex sector to the co-educational Protestant or multidenominational fee-paying sector. Enrolments are up significantly in Protestant co-educational fee-paying schools.
If the Catholic voluntary sector in south Dublin wishes to win back pupils and parents, these single-sex schools may have to consider going co-educational.
The Catholic religious orders should be forward-thinking and adventurous for once and go for a co-educational policy to attract pupils back. - Yours, etc.,
JENNIFER GARAHY, Blackrock, Co Dublin.