Bhí
scoileanna scairte in Árainn sular bunaíodh scoileanna éagsúla náisiúnta ann ó
1851 ar aghaidh ach níor seoladh Scoil Chill Éinne go dtí 1889. Níorbh fhada
ina dhiaidh sin a tógadh ‘Residence’ na múinteoirí in aice láimhe. Bhí an scoil
ag freastal ar pháistí Chill Éinne agus Iaráirne, bailte ina raibh cúpla céad
duine ina gcónaí ag an am, agus faoi 1892 b’iad Miss Osbourne agus Miss
McGovern – Anne McGovern as Co. Shligigh, is dóigh liom, a rugadh c.1874 – a
bhí ag teagasc inti. I mí Iúil na bliana sin, ghlac Jane W. Shackleton (1843-1909)
grianghraf de Miss Osbourne agus dá daltaí, grianghraf a foilsíodh le gairid sa
leabhar Jane Shackleton’s Ireland
faoi eagar Christiaan Corlett (Corcaigh: Collins Press, 2012). An bhliain sin,
toghadh Shackleton ina ball den Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland agus
ghlac sí páirt sna turais a thug an eagraíocht sin ar fud na tíre. Agus í i
mbun léachtóireachta faoina cuairt ar Árainn, dúirt sí faoi ghasúir na scoile:
The children looked bright and intelligent. There
is a new shed erected in the school house yard where boys are taught to make
and mend fishing nets.
 |
| Bal/0018, Special Collections, James Hardiman Library |
Trí
mhúineamh na litearthachta, fuair daltaí na scoile seo deis a bhfianaise fhéin
a chruthú i 1937-8 nuair a spreag an Máistir Ó Domhnalláin iad chun cur le
Bailiúchán na Scol ar shon iarracht náisiúnta Choimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann.
San ábhar béaloidis a chruinnigh siad tá stór mór amhrán, ina measc an t-amhrán
áitiúil a chum an file Tomás Ó Briain (c1890-1962) as Cill Éinne, Amhrán na Feola, arna bhreacadh ag iníon
deirfiúra dó, Máire Ní Dhioráin (c1921-2007).
Sa bhfichiú
aois, áfach, níorbh fhéidir leis an scoil an ceann is fearr a fháil ar an
laghdú daonra. Dúnadh í ar 1 Aibreán 1970 – tráth a raibh daoine as Árainn ag
máirseáil go Baile Átha Cliath ar shon Scoil Dhún Chaoin – agus seoladh an 54 dalta go Cill Rónáin. Mo
léan, níor cuireadh cosc ar chiorruithe ó shin. I 2005, bhagair Roinn an
Oideachais nach bhfágfaí san oileán ach aon bhunscoil amháin agus, cé gur
cuireadh in aghaidh a gcuid pleananna, níor éirigh le Scoil Fhearann a’ Choirce
– an scoil is faide a mhair sna hoileáin – teacht slán. Fágadh dhá bhunscoil in
Árainn – Scoil Eoghanachta thiar (23 dalta) agus Scoil Chill Rónáin thoir (42
dalta) – ach tá siadsan iad féin anois i mbaol de bharr ciorraithe nua na
Roinne, is é sin líon na múinteoirí a laghdú, go leibhéal na naoú haoise déag
is cosúil.
*
This post shares another of the James
Hardiman Library’s treasures and some insight into the life of Scoil Chill
Éinne, a primary school that no longer exists but which created evidence of the
local song tradition upon which this project now draws.
There were hedge schools in Árainn
(Inismór) before various national schools were introduced from 1851 onwards.
Cill Éinne National School appeared in 1889 followed shortly after by the
construction nearby of a teacher’s ‘Residence.’ The school served the villages
of Cill Éinne and Iaráire, which were then home to hundreds of people, and by
1892 its teachers were Miss Osbourne and Miss McGovern, probably Anne McGovern
of Co. Sligo (born c.1874). In July of that year, Jane W. Shackleton
(1843-1909) photographed Miss Osbourne with her charges. The image was recently
published in Christiaan Corlett’s Jane Shackleton’s Ireland (Cork: Collins Press, 2012). That same year, Shackleton
was elected to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and she
participated in many of their excursions all over the country. During one of
her lectures on Aran, she said of the schoolchildren:
The children looked bright and intelligent. There
is a new shed erected in the school house yard where boys are taught to make
and mend fishing nets.
The Balfour Album in the Hardiman Library contains a contemporaneous photograph that depicts,
I believe, the same school, though I invite readers to disagree with me as they
wish. It was created in 1894 or July 1895 by a member of the Irish Field Club
Union and the Royal Irish Academy, the professional photographer Robert John Welch (1859-1936). Notice the children’s clothing and the schoolbooks in their
hands.
The
acquisition of literacy enabled the pupils of this school to create their own
historical documents. In 1937-8 Master Ó Domhnalláin inspired them to
contribute to the School’s Scheme on behalf of the Irish Folklore Commission.
Amid the folkloric material they gathered was a large repertoire of song,
including the local composition Amhrán na
Feola (The Free Beef Song) by
Tomás Ó Briain (c1890-1962) of Cill Éinne, which was transcribed by his niece
Máire Ní Dhioráin (c1921-2007).
In the
twentieth century, however, the school failed to resist the effects of
population decline. It was closed on 1 April 1970 – at which time some
islanders were on a solidarity march to Dublin to demonstrate against the closure of Scoil Dhún Chaoin in Kerry – and its 54 pupils were sent to Cill Rónáin.
Unfortunately, cutbacks have continued since. In 2005, the Department of
Education threatened to amalgamate the island’s three schools and, despite
objections to their plans, Scoil Fhearann a’ Choirce – the longest running
school in Aran – was eventually closed. The two remaining schools – Scoil
Eoghanachta (23 pupils) and Scoil Chill Rónáin (42 pupils) – are now under
pressure from the latest form of cutbacks, which is to reduce the number of
teachers, apparently to nineteenth-century levels.
