Secondary school pupils to learn about mother and baby homes

24th July 2021

Secondary school pupils will be taught about the abuses suffered in industrial schools, Magdalene laundries, and mother and baby institutions under a new national pilot programme.

NUI Galway’s Irish Centre for Human Rights has published secondary school teaching materials on Ireland’s institutional abuses, which have been created with survivors and school teachers, pupils, activists and artists.

Mother and baby home survivor Mary Harney said: “We must teach children the history of this dark chapter in Ireland and keep that memory alive so that it never happens again.”
No such programme exists in other countries despite the fact that such institutions were to be found in many countries and were run by other Churches and secular organisations.

The education resources include a guidebook for teachers, PowerPoint presentations, lesson plans and as well as a workbook and an online database for students.

“It is our hope that, in the future, the Irish State will incorporate historical abuses into the Irish Leaving Certificate curriculum. Until then, our pilot programme is available to teachers all over Ireland,” said Emily O’Reilly, one of the five post-graduate students who developed the resources.