Irish schools need not teach English to junior infants

[Francis Hult]

Irish Times

 

Irish schools need not teach English to junior infants

 

Irish language schools will no longer have to teach English to junior infants following the withdrawal yesterday of a controversial directive by the Department of Education.

Circular 44, introduced by Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin in July 2007, directed all Irish language primary schools to teach English for a minimum of 30 minutes every day despite opposition from Irish language groups and educationalists.

The directive in effect forced Irish-medium primary schools to abandon their preferred approach of total immersion as a means of teaching the language.

Full story:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0121/1224262783290.html

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