Statistical Report 1935-1936 - Department of Education and Skills

6.Van Servicesunder specialVan Services scheme for Boat ServicesCOUNTY under General conveyance of..Rule 30 (2) Protestantchildren toSchoolCarlow · . - 2 -Cavan ·. - 2 -Clare ·. 1 1 .-Cork ·. 1 13 -Donegal · . 4 2 1Dublin · . - 1 -Galway · . 1 4 3Kerry · . - 3 -Kildare · . 1 2 -Kilkenny · . - 1 _.Laoighise · . 2 3 -Leitrim ·. 2 2 -Limerick · . - 1 -Longford ·. - 2 -Louth · . - 1I-Mayo · . 5 - 2.Meath · . - 4 -Monaghan · . 1 - -Offaly · . - 1 -Roscommon · . - 1 -Sligo ·. - - 1Tipperary ·. - 2 -Waterford ·. - 1 -Westmeath ·. 2 - -Wexford ·. - 4 -Wicklow ·. - 8 ------20 I 61 I 7.r7was sanctioned from the 1st July, 1934, in connexion with Section4 (2) (c) of the School Attendance Act. A grant-in-aid of a serviceof a conveyance at the rate of £5 per child per annum is made by thisDepartment provided that an average daily number of five eligiblechildren is conveyed quarterly. The Representative Church Bodyprovides annually towards the cost of the scheme not less than £1,500.For the school year 1934-5, State grants were allowed to an extent of.50 per cent. of the total cost of the scheme.The following table shows the number of van and boat services,under the schemes, in operation on the 31st March, 1936·;-The net expenditure for Van and Boat Services for the year ended:31st March, 1936, was £4,886 Os. 7d. as compared with £3,742 7s. Od.for the financial year ended 3~st March, 1935.The number of Van Services and the number of Boat Services inoperation on the 31st March, 1937, was 81 and 7 respectively. Theapproximate cost of these'services for the financial year ended on that.date was £5,442.Grants are also made, in a few exceptional cases, towards the cost-of maintaining necessitous island children on the mainland for thepurpose of enabling them to attend school. The .number of such-children in respect of whom grants were being paid on the 31st March1936 was 16. The cost of the maintenance of such children during thefinancial year ended on that date was £99 6s. 3d.The number of such children in respect of whom grants were beingpaid on the Sl st March, 1937, was 11 and the cost of their maintenancefor the financial year ended. on that date was £55 : 0 : 11.v.RECRUITMENT OF PRIMARY TEACHERS:The most important issue, under this heading continues to be thelarge number of teachers trained in recent years who have been unable_ to secure employment in National Schools. The problem has for someyears been serious in the case of men but recently women studentswho have completed their course of training have been experiencingdifficulty in this respect. The falling average attendance which hasbeen occupying so much public attention of late is, of course, mainlyresponsible for this situation. Every effort, however, is being made toameliorate the present conditions.Before adverting to the methods which have been adopted to reducethe number of teachers obtaining qualification and thus ease theposition there are one or two factors, which, apart from any generalrecovery in enrolments and averages in National Schools, are likelyto exercise an increasing influence in reducing the number of teacherswithout permanent employment and in arresting the continuedlimitation in recruitment which must otherwise take effect. Theoperation of the rule requiring the retirement, on marriage, of womenteachers appointed for the first time subsequent to the 1st July, 1934,could not yet be expected to have any appreciable effect on the numberof retirements but it is clear that, in the future, increased opportunitiss,of employment will be afforded by its operation. It may beanticipated also that the adoption of the main recommendations in thereport of the Commission on the Reformatory and Industrial Schoolswould gradually result in the absorption of a number of trained menand women teachers.The extent of the immediate problem is, however, SUch as todemand the continuance and extension of the measures already