Tipperary Education and Training Board (TETB) is pleased to announce that Borrisokane Further Education and Training Centre was officially opened on Friday 22 March 2019.

Kaye Mullaney, TETB Adult Education Officer, opened proceedings and thanked all those who had a role since last October in renovating the centre and making the building ready for classes. Matthew Carr, Principal of Borrisokane Community College gave the background to the centre which was a Borrisokane Union Workhouse in operation from 1853 to the 1920’s and comprising four two and three-storey blocks. The site is part of the current location of Borrisokane Community College.

John Hogan welcomed TETB Board and TETB Further Education and Training Committee to the event. He praised the collaboration of the Council with Tipperary ETB, and the efforts of former TETB CE Fionuala Mc Geever, that enabled this centre to pass into the hands of TETB. Deputy Alan Kelly. John Hogan and Cllr. Ger Darcy spoke about the long-term ambition for North Tipperary to get this site developed and to encourage the development of a heritage centre as part of the overall site.

Eileen Condon, TETB Director of Further Education and Training, acknowledged the importance of this development and the enhancement of adult education services for Borrisokane and the surrounding hinterlands. Increasing participation in lifelong learning is a national target and priority of TETB.

From 24 March onwards, courses are available in the centre, including Basic Computer Skills, Care of the Older Person, Word Processing and Internet Skills. As the year progresses, Tipperary Education and Training Board hope to add more courses to start in September 2019. This will be a great addition to the communities in and around Borrisokane and Tipperary Education and Training Board are very excited to be part of this development.

Types of courses that are available include Community Education which is non-formal learning with no accreditation run over 6 to 10 weeks one morning/afternoon/evening a week. Examples of Community Education Programmes include Art, Craft, Photography, Meditation, Yoga, Men’s Shed and many more. There is a very established art group in Borrisokane through Community Education and they recently had a exhibition at the Source Library in Thurles. If you are interested in Community Education or would like information to set up a community group in Borrisokane, please contact Deborah Ryan on 067 31845 or at dryan@tipperaryetb.ie.

Other courses will include those run through our Adult Literacy Scheme which offers support to adults who wish to improve reading, writing, numeracy and computer skills. If you would like information on this service, please contact Ester Mackey on 067 31845 or at emackey@tipperaryetb.ie.

Tipperary Education and Training Board will also be running courses that are accredited so that adults who want to upskill for employment purposes will be able to receive certification such as in the area of Healthcare, ICT, Business, Retail, etc. If you would to speak to the Back to Education Coordinator, Kathleen Grimes, please contact 052 6176755 or at kgrimes@tipperaryetb.ie

If you would like to contact our Information Officer, Emma Wing, please ring 067 32282 or check out our courses at www.fetchcourses.ie to see what is currently available.