Traveller Education Awards

Well done to all the awardees at the Exchange House Traveller Education Awards. And particularly well done to our own Tracey Reilly who graduated with 1st Class Honours in her BA in Youth and Community Work at Maynooth University this year.

Travellers in education have obstacles to overcome in order to succeed in the education system.

For many Travellers the school experience remains a negative one. While segregated education has been largely done away with (one Traveller-only primary school remains) Traveller children continue to have negative experiences at school: ■ Bullying

■ Low expectations from school personnel

■ Discrimination

■ Isolation and marginalization

It was great to see Traveller young people succeeding at 2nd level also as early school leaving is a major issue for Travellers.

Pavee Point has been lobbying for a holistic Traveller Education Strategy which is needed to address issues at all education levels and the government has committed to this in the current Programme for Government.