How grants have been abolished and teachers cut
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The Budget in October 2008 changed the status of Protestant secondary schools:
- Grants available to Catholic schools in the free scheme were abolished for Protestant voluntary schools.
- Voluntary Protestant schools have had their teacher numbers cut by more than Catholic non-fee-paying schools.
There is now a higher pupil-teacher ratio (20:1) in these Protestant schools than in schools in the free education scheme (19:1)
"By changing the status of Protestant Voluntary Schools in this manner, the Department of Education has attempted to equate these schools with the Catholic fee-charging sector," says the Committee on Management for Protestant Secondary Schools.
"Such a changing of status fails to recognise the position and purpose of Protestant Schools. They are not equivalent to Catholic fee-charging schools," they added.
