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30/04/2012
Ombudsman Says School Should Apologise To Twice Rejected Teenage Girl
A school who twice rejected the application of a pregnant teenager has been asked to apologise for its comments that the school "was not a haven for young pregnant people or for young mothers".
The girl applied twice to the lay-owned Catholic-ethos school - first in September 2009 when she was pregnant at 16 and again the following year after her baby had been born.
However, the principal, who is also the school’s owner, founder and patron, turned her down, on both occasions.
According to the report by the Ombudsman for Children, which includes school correspondence to the family, the child was denied a place at the school on the first occasion because she was pregnant and on the second because she was a single mother.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland the Ombudsman for Children’s, Emily Logan, said that there is currently no enrolment legislation that would prevent a school from acting in this way.
However Ms Logan said that the spirit of that Education Act is about accessibility and access, and that the principal had not operated in adherence with that.
Ms Logan found that the school's actions adversely affected the girl in question, were improperly discriminatory and were based on undesirable administrative practice and were contrary to fair and sound administration.
(H/GK)
The girl applied twice to the lay-owned Catholic-ethos school - first in September 2009 when she was pregnant at 16 and again the following year after her baby had been born.
However, the principal, who is also the school’s owner, founder and patron, turned her down, on both occasions.
According to the report by the Ombudsman for Children, which includes school correspondence to the family, the child was denied a place at the school on the first occasion because she was pregnant and on the second because she was a single mother.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland the Ombudsman for Children’s, Emily Logan, said that there is currently no enrolment legislation that would prevent a school from acting in this way.
However Ms Logan said that the spirit of that Education Act is about accessibility and access, and that the principal had not operated in adherence with that.
Ms Logan found that the school's actions adversely affected the girl in question, were improperly discriminatory and were based on undesirable administrative practice and were contrary to fair and sound administration.
(H/GK)
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