16k empty school seats in WELB

TWENTY-THREE per cent of vacant primary school places in Northern Ireland last year were in the Western Education and Library Board (WELB), it has been revealed.

By The Newsroom

Published 6th Oct 2012, 10:48 BST

With 14,611 surplus places here, the WELB had the highest number of unfilled school seats of any board in Northern Ireland.

Education Minister John O’Dowd provided the details, also showing: “The number of vacant (unfilled) places in primary schools in the 2011/12 school year - the most recent academic year for which figures are available - was 62,867.”

He advised: “The figures are derived from the difference between the totals of the approved enrolment numbers for schools and the number of pupils enrolled. “They exclude the enrolment of 4,400 pupils in receipt of a statement of special educational needs and 9 pupils admitted on appeal by the Independent Appeals

Tribunals as these are admitted over and above a schools’ approved enrolment number.”