TWO THIRDS of primary schools are in debt and more than half can barely meet running costs from the State's grant, according to a survey carried out by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation.
The union says the survey gives evidence of the "creeping privatisation" of the education system, with parents and local communities meeting an ever greater proportion of the cost.
The capitation grant provided by the Department of Education accounted for an average of 57 per cent of total expenditure in the schools surveyed.
The rest was made up of contributions from parents and other local sources. All schools were forced to organise fund raisers such as raffles and sales of work.
INTO general secretary, Senator Joe O'Toole, said lack of funding was having a "seriously negative impact". He called for a trebling of the capitation grant paid for pupils, and the abolition of the local contribution. Twelve schools, urban and rural, large and small, were surveyed.