Costly return to schoolrooms
TESTY exchanges over the withdrawal of book grants from some schools are the first rumblings in what will undoubtedly be the most difficult back-to-school time in memory.
The teachers unions and the society of St Vincent de Paul are worried about the cost of schoolbooks, now that grants have been discontinued for schools that are not designated as 'disadvantaged'.
The minister says the TUI is being "selective" in its criticism and ignores increases in funding for the day-to-day running of schools announced in last year's Budget.
Mention of the Budget is a reminder that the confrontation over cost of books is but an opening salvo in the bombardment yet to come.
The Budget introduced a number of measures which affect education, including the cutting of grants and funding and a reduction in the number of teachers.
The months have flown, the children have grown and now it is time to face the full force of those cutbacks announced last October.
In the first weeks of the coming new academic year, teachers and principals will learn if their worst fears about the new discipline are to be realised.
Will increased class sizes undermine the quality of teaching? Will the number of primary teachers fall by 1,000 as the INTO claims, or by a few hundred as the department insists?
What effect will the removal of grants for libraries, choirs, orchestras, economics, physics and chemistry have?
One thing is certain: the school around the corner will never, ever be the same.
