"WHAT do we want? Teachers out! When do we want it? Now! Teachers teachers teachers, out out out!" The chant comes from a group of five to eight year olds in Dublin's north inner city, mimicking the "pushers out" chorus of the area's adult anti drug protesters.
But the children chanting are among a group of 40 for whom schoolwork and teachers are definitely "in". Pupils at St Patrick's School in Rutland Street, they are involved in a pilot community after school project (CASPR), based at the community resource centre in Buckingham Street. It is known locally as Casper, after the friendly ghost.
Every afternoon, the children gather to do supervised homework, followed by indoor or outdoor arts, sports and entertainment activities. They also go on weekend and summer holiday trips in the country.
The project's supervisor, Ms Irene Boucher, says there has been a "huge improvement" in the students' school work since it started in January, following an area action plan drawn up by the Inner City Organisations Network (ICON).
Ms Boucher describes the project as a "prevention and support service" which gives the children personal attention in a home like environment. Parents had complained "that there were no safe places for their children to play. They were encountering pushers and needles. The parents were afraid to let them out. So this is a safe, happy environment," she said.
The project's chairperson, Ms Gloria Kirwan, a community worker with the Eastern Health Board, said: "Prevention can be about education, which it is, but it's also about parents giving their children access to opportunities that hopefully will mean in the long run that they will never feel that they need to get involved in drug dealing or criminal activities in order to cope with this world."
The project is run by a voluntary management committee made up of various local professionals and residents. It is partly funded by FAS and 12 parents of children on it are involved as community employment workers. "The project's great strength and its success is due to the fact that the local people are working with their own children", said Ms Boucher. "That's something new and it gives people a sense of themselves and a sense of achievement."
The project relies heavily on the goodwill of local people, one off grants or donations and fund raising events. There are 25 children on its waiting list and parents at other local schools have been lobbying for a similar scheme, according to Ms Boucher.
The project is one of six around the State selected out of 600 in the youth category for the final of the AIB Better Ireland Awards, with a first prize of £25,000.
Ms Boucher is currently working on plans to open a similar project for pupils at Gardiner Street school next year, based at a play centre on Mountjoy Square.
Many of the parents on the scheme are actively involved in anti drugs activities in the area and there are plans to introduce a drug awareness element to the project's activities.
"What's happening here is giving a community back some hope that they will have a positive future", says Ms Kirwan. "We're hoping it will be one little friendly ghost that won't go away.