Two secondary schools in Westmeath have been twinned with local businesses, with the aim of helping young people stay in school and become more jobs-aware.
Mullingar Community College has been linked with Capmark Services Ireland, while St Aloysius College, Athlone has been linked with élan Drug Technologies under the Schools Business Partnership programme, which aims to develop links between schools and local businesses.
The Schools Business Partnership programme matches post-primary schools targeted through the Department of Education’s school completion programme with a major local company.
Over 10,000 post-primary students across the country have taken part in the innovative Government-backed programme, which has twinned schools serving disadvantaged communities with major local businesses since it was set up eight years ago.
Speaking at the EU Council of Education Ministers in Brussels this week, Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe, said the number of post-primary schools in disadvantaged areas twinning with companies to offer students an insight into working life has risen from four to 152 since it was set up in 2001.
“In that time, more than 10,000 students from schools involved in the Department’s school completion programme have signed up for the Schools Business Partnership programme.
“Students are assigned a local business mentor to help them through school, receive advice on CV preparation and interviews, and sign up for work experience.
“I believe ours is a model of best international practice in terms of developing policy to tackle educational disadvantage and drive entrepreneurship in our young people.
“Over 150 post-primary schools are now matched with local enterprises across the country - more than a 37-fold increase since the programme began eight years ago. This trend shows that we’re making enormous progress in expanding the scheme to schools serving disadvantaged communities.
“The 117 participating companies are drawn from a range of sectors including financial, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, technology, retail and food,” said Minister O’Keeffe.
