Traveller children get a better education in Britain because they are classified as 'Irish', say Travellers' rights' advocates who want to see stricter enforcement by school attendance officers in Ireland.

On the eve of Traveller Focus week, a call has gone out to parents within the community to support their children's constitutional rights to education by keeping them in school for the secondary cycle. There is still a very high drop-out rate of Traveller children after second year and only seven Travellers are currently attending an Irish university.

"Three sets of parents have been brought to court in recent years for failing to send their children to school and I congratulate that but I reject the attempt to portray this as a cultural practice," says Martin Collins, the former Glenroe actor.

A group of parents and young people, speaking in the Pavee Point Travellers' centre in Dublin, said not enough was being done by the state and in their own community to encourage children to stay on in school.

They said a history of segregation and stigma compounded by cut-backs in last month's budget militate against Travellers completing second-level education.

The Equality Authority revealed two years ago that the second-largest number of cases on its files dealt with Travellers' access to education. Travellers are still being stereotyped in Irish schools, according to a Pavee Point survey of children aged five to 12. When asked what they would change about school, they consistently replied "the hurt, the name-calling and the bullying."

A reduction in capitation fees for Travellers in primary and post-primary schools was announced in the budget, amounting to total projected savings of €6.3m.