REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE ON EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE ON EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING CITY WEST HOTEL, DUBLIN
Is cúis mhór áthais dom bheith anseo libh inniu ag an ócaid specialta seo. Tá mé buíoch díbh as an chuireadh agus an fáilte fíorchaoin a chur sibh romham.
I am delighted to join you this morning to open the conference on early school leaving. I would like to thank Philip O Connor and the Dublin Employment Pact for the kind invitation.
It is a great pleasure to welcome all the participants to today’s conference. Some of you have travelled quite a distance, some of you, in Dublin’s traffic gridlock, have taken a long time to travel a short distance, but each of you has made this journey because you care deeply about the young people you serve. You each have your own reservoir of experience, skill and insight and you bring these with you. In a spirit of generosity you will share these things with others and in turn each of you will listen and learn from each other. You know that it is only through sharing information and harnessing your collective knowledge and wisdom you will be in a better position to tackle the important issue of early school leaving and to identify effective solutions to counter the problems related to it.
This is indeed an exciting time to be young and in Ireland. We have been witnesses to the radical transformation of our country and we know that a vital key to that transformation was unlocking the potential of our people, widening access to education, opening up the valves which allowed the freeflow of our own genius. Our experience has already taught us that every life that is only half-lived, every talent that goes unused, every human being whose potential is wasted is a huge loss to the individual, his or her family, his or her community, his or her country. That loss is not just economic; it goes to the very heart of civic life, for we are civically healthy when our young people are getting the very most they can from the options and opportunities education offers them.
So for many young people, leaving school and embarking on the next stage of their journey into adulthood is an exciting and hope filled prospect. The world is literally their oyster, they can access opportunities both in Ireland and abroad which enables them to live their dreams, enjoy their youth, to achieve their potential and to blossom into fulfilled adulthood.
But then there is the other side of the story. The young people who live in disadvantaged circumstances – in poverty or deprivation and who either find the gates of opportunity firmly shut or who lack the insight, the support or the maturity of judgment to recognise and commit to the education and training which is on offer at this crucial stage in their lives. It is all too easy to slip out of mainstream education and into a life only half-lived, their true potential never realised. They remain strangers to themselves for they never go the full journey into self and they remain vulnerable to the cycle of poverty and deprivation as well as vulnerable to the culture of drugs, alcohol abuse, suicide risk, teenage pregnancy which festers alongside under-achievement.
It is one of the ironies of our booming economy that with employment easier to access than ever before we face the danger of enticing students away from their studies too soon. Participants here today are concerned about the implications this has for the future or these young people. It is today’s problem. It affects tomorrow and it makes your job and your involvement in this conference all the more challenging, all the more timely.
It can often be hard for young people to believe that they matter, that they truly count. Yet everyone of you knows that when you build a bridge to that young person, when he or she begins to invest in self-belief, when they begin to stretch and test themselves, building up character, resolve, determination, the prize is a life turned around, the most rewarding prize of all. And so often it is through your work, your contact that those bridges are built to a very different kind of future.
We have travelled quite a distance in providing practical and imaginative solutions to encourage young people to enjoy their time in school and to remain within the education system. The Home School Community Liaison scheme is a very successful initiative encouraging parental involvement in their children’s learning. I have visited many schools in the Breaking the Cycle initiative and I would happily attest to the wonderful supportive environment in which the children who benefit from this scheme are educated, to the way in which their self confidence is encouraged and to their sheer enjoyment of school. The 8–15 early school leaver initiative has proved to be another worthwhile project and has been successful in retaining youngsters within the educational system who otherwise would have lost out on completing their education.
I would like to commend everyone involved in the Dublin Employment Pact for their initiative in sponsoring this conference. You realise that no one individual, no one group has all the answers to the problem of early school leaving. But in respectful partnership between statutory and non statutory bodies, between the social partners, state agencies, the educational community and voluntary bodies, the challenges posed by early school leaving can be faced and effective strategies devised.
Our strength is in our people, our future success is in our people. Human capital, human equity these will drive our economy, our culture our civic life. The more people we help or guide to their fullest potential the more we contribute to the national human energy grid and to the resilience of civic life. The more people whose talents lie unlocked, whose lives are wasted in underachievement, the more the individual and society both are operating below par. So we need people who feel deeply and are deeply personally empowered and I would like to thank you for your dedicated commitment to young people in your care. In caring for each of them as individuals you are also caring for all of us as community.
May I wish you an enjoyable and informative conference.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.