THE National Parents Council (Post Primary) has said it is "shocked and disappointed" at the lack of serious debate on education and the low priority given to it by all the parties.
The NPC (PP) said in a statement yesterday that it had sought the views of all the parties on several issues: the future of the Education Bill, rationalisation of small schools, school funding, transport, the abolition of Junior and Leaving Cert fees and access to education for pupils with special needs.
In their replies, the parties had used aspirational language with absolutely no commitment to investment".
The NPC is particularly concerned at the Government parties' failure to respond to many requests to release the report of the School Transport Review Committee, and the failure of opposition parties to raise the issue.
Safety on aged and over-crowded buses and excessive waiting times are pressing issues, it said.
Similarly, the NPC expressed its concern that only one party in each of the two coalition groupings - Fianna Fail and Labour - had developed "a reasonably comprehensive education policy".
Yesterday morning, about 1,000 students, parents, teachers and principals staged a pre-election rally at Our Lady of Mercy College in Beaumont, Dublin.
They released balloons featuring what the Secretariat of Secondary Schools says is the minimum amount of funding per student needed to cover secondary schools' costs.
"At the moment, the funding to Catholic voluntary schools, which cater for 60 per cent all secondary students, is just £177 per student each year - that's a £21 million shortfall," said the secretariat's general secretary, Mr George O'Callaghan.
The principal of Our Lady of Mercy College, Sister Bonaventure Higgins, said many of the issues a new government must urgently deal with could be seen clearly in her own school.
"Proper middle-management structures and funding for ancillary staff are badly needed," she said.