MINISTER FOR Education Batt O’Keeffe will meet secondary teachers this week to discuss the Budget cuts in the education sector.
Last night, the Association of Secondary School Teachers Ireland (ASTI) general secretary John White said the meeting was the “first hopeful sign” that some of the cuts could be reversed and the threat of school closures averted.
A spokesman for the Minister said the meeting was a “positive development”.
Both sides are likely to meet tomorrow on the eve of the critical Dáil vote on the education cuts. The Minister’s spokesman stressed there was no question of a U-turn over the cuts.
However, Mr White said he believed there was room to amend the Budget provision to limit teacher substitution cover for uncertified sick leave and for teachers on official school business at second level.
School managers say they will have no option but to send classes home and close schools from January, when the cuts take effect.
In coming days, Mr O’Keeffe is expected to come under intense pressure from education groups to reverse the cuts.
Last night the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) said more than 1,000 teacher training graduates faced unemployment next year because of the decision to increase class size. These include 400 final-year trainee teachers at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Dublin, and another 400 at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.
The president of Mary Immaculate, Dr Peadar Cremin, said the recent education cutbacks were hitting the most vulnerable in society – disadvantaged, minority groups, special needs children and those already suffering financial hardship.
They had clear implications for more than 500 students due to graduate next year, “especially for those aspiring to work in special education and to work with the disadvantaged”.
The Minister insists only 200 jobs will be lost in primary schools with another 200 posts taken out of the second-level sector. But teacher unions say it is clear that close to 2,000 teaching posts will be lost.
In other developments the ASTI has also joined forces with the GAA to combat the new limits on substitution cover. These will see no cover for teachers taking pupils to sports, cultural and other out of school events.
According to the ASTI, the decision to suspend substitution cover for school business absences will have damaging consequences for games in schools.
“Games have an important role in contributing to a rounded education for young people aged 12-19 in our schools . . . The removal of healthy competition in games from school life will be an impoverishment of the lives of many thousands of young people,” the union said.
In recent days, the GAA has also requested a meeting with the Minister. The association says it is concerned that the implementation of the changes will greatly curtail the development of Gaelic games in second-level schools and post- primary school competitions.
