Gaeloideachas welcomes the announcement of additional funding for Gaeltacht primary schools to provide additional teaching hours under the Language Assistants Scheme.

The Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs and Sport, Jack Chambers TD, recently announced that additional 3-year funding of up to €72,000 will be provided under the scheme. Support will be provided for seven Gaeltacht primary schools with more than 100 students, and between 1-7 additional teaching hours per week will be available to the schools in question, depending on the number of students enrolled in the school.

“The Language Assistants Scheme is an extremely important scheme and the assistants add greatly to the teaching, growth, and development of Irish in Gaeltacht schools,” said Gaeloideachas President, Mícheál S. Mac Donnacha. “It is a great source of encouragement for us that the Scheme is going from strength to strength and that its importance is recognised. Every support is needed to assist in the development of the Policy on Gaeltacht Education in Gaeltacht schools.”

“We also welcome the launch of the new booklet, Role of the Language Assistant,” said Gaeloideachas CEO, Bláthnaid ní Ghréacháin. “This booklet will be an important resource which provides an overview of the work of language assistants, and it will be a valuable source of information and support not only for language assistants, but also for staff and teams of Gaeltacht schools going forward.”

With the inclusion of this additional funding, approximately €1,230,943 in total will be provided per school year under the scheme, and 134 Gaeltacht schools will benefit from it, with 114 language assistants working in the schools.

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Notes for the editor