AONTAS Response to National Action Plan for Social Inclusion
21 Feb 2007 03:56 PM
Berni Brady, Director of AONTAS, said: "There are over 300,000 adult learners in Ireland and they deserve a better service than they currently receive. The plan launched today contains some positive elements, but it does not do enough to develop the adult learning sector."
"According to the plan, the Department of Enterprise will invest €2.9bn in improving training for people in employment between now and 2013. While this is a welcome provision, we need more affirmative action from the government to help workers who have low educational attainment levels. What we really need is a system of paid educational leave for workers with Junior Certificate qualifications or less and the abolition of fees for part-time learners in higher education.
"The plan pledges to expand the BTEI [Back To Education Initiative] but it makes no effort to help low-paid workers in meeting the costs of these courses. AONTAS believes that people who earn less than €35,000 per annum should be eligible for a BTEI course fee waiver.
"The plan also provides for an additional 7000 literacy places in VECs by 2009, with a particular focus on increasing the number of migrants receiving an English language service. This makes no sense whatsoever, as what is really needed is a totally separate service for speakers of other languages. A dedicated funding line needs to be established for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) provision, and this service should be separated from literacy courses."
Ms. Brady said AONTAS would be lobbying all general election candidates on these key issues over the coming months. The organisation launched its pre-election campaign, Demand Your Right To Learn, in January.
