VEC Education Officer arguing for closure of Youthreach Centres

national | education | news report Tuesday March 17, 2009 15:59 by Blacbloc

Are thousands of young people to be thrown to the wolves?

This information from a reliable source has yet to be confirmed in print but Youthreach pupils, teachers and co-ordinators are growing increasingly concerned that a VEC Education Officer from one of the county VECs is calling for their closure as a cost cutting exercise. More information is to follow but this threat is something that a lot of people ought to sit up and take seriously because of the knock-on consequences such a move is likely to have.

Youthreach is a nationwide education and training scheme for early school leavers and young adults who, for a variety of reasons, have not succeeded within mainstream education. A high proportion have multiple social, behavioural and learning difficulties that have proved impossible to resolve in secondary schools. The more flexible and personal nature of the Youthreach centres has proved very effective at helping people to overcome personal and educational difficulties and in providing them with knowledge and skills in subjects they like and can use for work and to participate in society in general.

Youthreach was first established during the depths of the last recession in the 80s in order to help tackle the then enormous problem of disaffected, undereducated and unskilled young people living on the margins of society with very little hope of creating a secure future for themselves. With that problem now resurfacing again in recent years it would be deeply ironic if this time around this urgently needed provision was shut down. Youthreach has grown into a successful and inexpensive approach to tackling what can become a nightmare problem for young people and related public services across the spectrum - including social workers, probation officers, secondary schools and all those who need a safe and constructive environment to which to refer young people . The biggest problem about Youthreach is that there are too few centres offering too few places. It has also been chronically underfunded.

http://www.youthreach.ie/

Without Youthreach huge numbers of young people would be lost to unemployment for lack of education and skills. Many would end up on drugs or in prison - which aside from the disastrous outcome it has on reoffending rates, is also vastly more expensive.

For second level schools and colleges it will also create a problem with pupils who are unhappy there. This can create problems for everyone.