Schools 'need an extra €10m to stay open'
Parents will have to dig deeper next year to help keep schools open -- raising an extra €10m just to keep them going, school managers have warned.
Managers said that the non-fee-paying secondary schools were already fundraising €15m with assistance from parents. But they warned that in 2009 they would need parents to raise another €10m on top of that -- an increase of two-thirds.
Spokesman Ferdia Kelly said he believed that schools will have no choice but to engage in fundraising.
Obligation
"Boards of management of each school will be left with no option but to raise well over one-third of their expenditure locally in order to fulfil their obligation to provide an appropriate education for all its pupil as per section 15.1 of the Education Act 1998," he added.
The crisis follows the Government's decision to withdraw grants in areas such as science subjects, programmes like transition year or Leaving Certificate Applied, Traveller education and the book grants scheme.
Rose Tully from the National Parents Council (post-primary) said parents would also be affected by the increases in school transport costs and third-level registration and exam fees.
"The withdrawal of the school books grant will put more families at a disadvantage," said Ms Tully.
Meanwhile, the Fureys will be the warm-up act for what promises to be the biggest demonstration in the capital for years at lunchtime today.
Organisers expect 40,000 to 50,000 to join the protest against the education cuts. Traffic will be seriously disrupted as the marchers make their way from Parnell Square to the rallying point at Merrion Square.
Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe's partial retreat on substitution cover has done little to dispel anger over the cuts. He told the Irish Independent that it was simply not realistic that education be exempted from spending restrictions.
"There is and must be a national commitment on the part of the Government to take the tough decisions that will restore our nation to economic prosperity as soon as possible."
But Teachers' Union of Ireland general secretary Peter MacMenamin said: "The Government will be given a clear message that the public will not countenance these short-sighted and foolhardy cutbacks."
- John Walshe Education Editor
