Primary teachers are finalising plans for industrial action unless their demands for increased capital funding are met in the Estimates, to be published next month. Kathryn Holmquist, Education Correspondent, reports.
Some 20 substandard schools will hold days of action, which the Irish National Teachers' Organisation believes parents will support.
The strike action would take place shortly after the publication of the Estimates.
The INTO has thrown down the gauntlet to the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to provide €300 million per year over the next five years, to deal with the problem of substandard schools.
The teachers' union wants the building and refurbishment work in all schools with substandard accommodation to begin immediately.
It is also calling for multi-annual budgeting to allow for coherent planning to tackle and eliminate the problem of substandard school buildings, as well as an annual increase in the grant for "minor works".
Schools should no longer have to purchase furniture from their "minor works" grant, the INTO added.
The INTO is also arguing for significantly increased spending on primary education, to bring it on a par with third-level education, on which three times more is spent.
Schemes to help disadvantaged youth reach third level are only "window dressing" aimed at covering the fact that the Government failed them in the early years of their education, the union's general secretary, Mr John Carr, said.
The Government is spending €3,500 for each primary child, compared to €5,400 for each at second level and €10,500 for each third-level student.
The disparity is so great that without voluntary fundraising by principals, teachers and parents, primary schools would cease functioning, Mr Carr said. The Government was treating primary education as a charity, he claimed.
A typical 200-pupil school may have to raise €17,000 annually from donations "just to stay out of the red".
Calling on the Minister for Finance to increase investment in primary education, Mr Carr said: "This unjust and unfair funding is creating huge inequity in the educational system. By underfunding primary education the state is failing in its duty to huge sections of society. Children who are disadvantaged by socio-economic circumstances are further disadvantaged by the education system because all children are not given a fair start."
In disadvantaged schools, class sizes must be reduced within three years to a maximum of 15 pupils in infant and multi-grade classes, and to a maximum of 20 in other grades. The INTO also wants to see 10 per cent of the primary education budget of €1.5 billion set aside for disadvantaged schools. This would eliminate the annual fight for funding that such schools endure.
The union has also demanded an increase in this grant to enable all schools to employ both a secretary and a caretaker.
Many small schools cannot afford to hire a secretary and a caretaker and must settle for one or the other and only on a part-time basis. The total given to a 100-pupil school is just €10,000 to pay for a secretary or a caretaker.
Principals must either fund-raise to hire these staff, or do the work themselves.