HUNDREDS of people who left school with no educational qualifications are being prevented from obtaining "second chance" certificates because of a shortage of clerical staff in the National Council for Vocational Awards.
The people concerned are studying for the NCVA's National Foundation Certificate in community training workshops, adult literacy groups" Youthreach schemes, travellers workshops, prison schemes, home-school liaison projects and VTOS schemes.
They do foundation courses in literacy, numeracy and "personal effectiveness" to which they will eventually add subjects like art, childcare, computers, catering, sport and craft technology to gain National Foundation Certificates.
Last month, their groups received a letter from the NCVA saying the council was "not in a position to provide any further information at present" on how and when these courses would be assessed and certificated.
The problem appears to b9 that the Department of Education is unable to appoint the six or so clerical officers needed to administer the programme.
Many of the students on the NCVA courses, who left school at primary level or shortly afterwards, have literacy or numeracy difficulties. "They are people who have been failed once by the educational system, and it's essential that they are given the opportunity to experience success through education. This qualification allows them to do that," says the director of the National Adult Literacy Agency, Ms Geraldine Mernagh.
Ms Mernagh wrote to the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, expressing "alarm and disappointment" at the absence of information about when the students on the Foundation Level Certificate would be assessed and receive certificates.
A typical local reaction came from the women on the NCVA course in Kilbarrack Community Adult Education Centre, Dublin, who wrote to Ms Breathnach saying the course had given them "confidence, knowledge and skills" and had opened up "a whole new world of learning for us, as we all left school at primary level".
The National Foundation Certificate was piloted in around 140 centres nationwide in 1995 and 1996. The 1,500 or more people currently having problems getting their work portfolios assessed are students on those pilot courses.
The director of the National Council for Vocational Awards, Ms Cynthia Deane Fogarty, said yesterday the NCVA was "fully committed to have certification available at the earliest possible opportunity. The question of the necessary resources is under active discussion with the Department of Education and we are hopeful of a very early resolution".