Education safeguarded in revised Programme for Government

By TUI, Monday, 1st November 2010 | 0 comments

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) today highlighted that education remains safeguarded under the revised Programme for Government. The imposition of a fee to gain admission to a Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) course would have a devastating effect on the most vulnerable in society, the union warned.

Speaking today, TUI General Secretary Peter MacMenamin said:
 

“One of the few decent and vaguely redemptive moves taken by this Government in its lifetime was the commitment in the revised Programme for Government that it would inflict no further damage on the already creaking structures of our education system by worsening the staffing ratio in schools.  The original attack on the education system made two years ago caused immeasurable damage and this is still adversely affecting the education of our young people. 

The commitment to maintaining the pupil teacher ratio was a clear acknowledgement that schools and colleges could absorb no more punishment if they were to remain fully operational in the wake of repeated asset stripping. We fully trust that this binding contract will be upheld and that the promises enshrined in it remain safeguarded.
 

We are particularly abhorred by any suggestion that students would be forced to pay a fee to gain a place on a Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) course. With tens of thousands of newly unemployed seeking reskilling and school leavers seeking to further their studies, this would have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable in society.   The suggested doubling of the registration fee for third level is similarly a regressive move and while it recognised by TUI that third level education is chronically underfunded, as are other parts of the system, this is not a proposal that will address this underfunding.

TUI recognises the need to examine every area of expenditure for savings and every area of income or wealth for the imposition of an expanded and equitable taxation base.  Such examination of expenditure must look to any funding that is directed at privilege rather than seeking again to further disadvantage the already disadvantaged.  The maintenance of privilege in any sphere, particularly in education, cannot be allowed to continue in current circumstances while the less privileged are being made to suffer.”
 

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