Increased student fees and school transport charges are among the main features of the Budget in the education sector.
But compared to other areas, the two per cent reduction in the overall allocation of over €8.85 billion is relatively modest,
As expected, the new student contribution fee, which replaces the registration charge, will be €2,000. Second and subsequent siblings will pay €1,500. New arrangements where students can pay 50 per cent of the new fee in September and again in January are being examined by the colleges.
Union of Students in Ireland president Gary Redmond labelled the Budget the “Pearl Harbour of Irish Education”.
He claimed the Government’s decision to increase college fees is a retrograde step for Irish education which will deny thousands of students access to a third level education.
At a time when employment prospects are bleak, the Government should be increasing access to education to enable young people to gain the skills necessary to build a better life for themselves. Instead, this Government has once again erected more barriers to education by increasing fees to €2000 per year, driving students towards unemployment and emigration.
Other measures include:
- With effect from the 2011/2012 school year a transport fee of €50 per annum will be introduced for primary school pupils, with a maximum family charge of €110 applying.
- The annual charge for post-primary pupils will be increased by €50 from €300 to €350. The combined maximum overall family charge will remain at €650.
- Some €22 million in savings will be secured in 2011 though an average 5 per cent reduction in funding grants to schools and Vocational Educational Committees, including mainstream and ancillary grants for schools, and including grants for Adult Literacy, Community Education, School Completion Programme, Youthreach. This will reduce capitation rates to those that applied to schools between 2007 and 2008.
*The 2011 allocation for teacher salaries of almost €3.85 billion takes account of €24 million in savings, rising to €98 million in 2014, to be achieved by reducing teacher numbers through a combination of measures.
These measures will lead to a deferral of 150 extra posts and to a reduction of up to approximately 1,200 posts from September 2011 (approximately 700 primary and 500 post-primary posts) which, however, will be partly offset by the addition of an estimated 875 new posts due to demographics.
Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, said the Budget 2011 is a budget that recognises the critical role of the education and skills sector to Ireland’s future prospects. She said that while difficult choices had to be made to identify savings across her Department’s remit, the Government had gone as far as it could to protect front line education services in 2011.
The INTO said today’s budget landed the bill for the bank bail-out firmly on the backs of ordinary men women and children.
“Nothing and no one has been spared,” said INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan. “The cost of bailing out the banks has been spread from the cradle to the grave.”
The INTO said new teachers will see a reduction of up to 14 per cent in starting salaries. Retired teachers on above €12,000 per annum will see a loss in their pensions.
