Ireland 2016: Centenary Programme

The Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan TD, welcomed today’s launch of the “Ireland 2016: Centenary Programme”. In particular, she welcomed the education elements of this historically important national series of events.

Minister O’Sullivan was speaking after the official launch of “Ireland 2016: Centenary Programme” by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD, the Tánaiste Joan Burton TD, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD, and the Minister of State for New Communities, Culture and Equality, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD, at Collins Barracks, in Dublin.

There are seven elements to the Programme, with education sector activities coming mainly under the “Youth and Imagination” strand.

The key education-related activities are:

• Proclamation for a New Generation: All primary and post-primary schools will be invited to write a new Proclamation for 2016, to reflect the values, hopes and aspirations of the generation of 2016.
• 1916 Ancestry Project: This will invite all primary and post-primary pupils to engage in tracing a family tree back to 1916.
• Proclamation Day 2016: This day of commemoration will take place in all educational institutions on 15 March 2016. It will encompass pre-schools, primary and post-primary schools, and further and higher education institutions.
• A 1916 digital resource for schools: This resource will comprise lesson plans based on cultural artefacts relevant to 1916, from the State’s major cultural institutions.
• All-island 2016 competitions in history, drama, music and art: These competitions, open to primary and post-primary students, will involve partnerships with the National Gallery of Ireland, the Abbey Theatre, the National Concert Hall, and RTÉ.
• Ireland 2016 National Flag resource: This digital resource will provide information on the national flag, including its historical evolution, as well as covering other symbols of the State and of Irish national identity. It will be active for the start of the next school year, in September.
• Politics and Society: A new optional Leaving Certificate subject will be trialled in a number of schools in 2016 as a legacy of the commemorations.
• 1916 academic conference: The definitive academic conference on 1916 will take place in 2016 and be organised on an all-island, and inter-institutional basis.

Marking the launch, Minister O’Sullivan said: “The Proclamation declared that the Irish Republic would “cherish all the children of the nation equally.”  So it’s only fitting that in 2016 our children will be centrally involved in commemorating the Rising.

“The wide-range of bilingual education activities planned for “Ireland 2016”, and the fact that many are on an all-island basis, will ensure that all learners will have the opportunity to commemorate the past, celebrate the present, and imagine the future.”

See more at: http://education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2015-Press-Releases/PR15-03-31.html#sthash.e9B96GNg.dpuf