The penny pinching by the Government in last week’s budget will have a detrimental effect on the education of young people, according to two Mayo secondary school principals. Ioseph McGowen, principal of Davitt College, Castlebar told the Mayo Advertiser earlier this week: “It will seriously affect the way we run the school and it will make it nearly impossible to keep it running to the high standards we have set for ourselves.” With bigger class sizes being a reality for schools, Mr McGowen is worried that it will affect the quality of teaching that the students will get. “Having bigger class sizes is no good for either the students or the teachers, we’re looking at loosing between one and two teachers here which will lead to less subject choices for both the Leaving and Junior Certificates.”
With new guidelines being put in place in relation to the hiring of substitute teachers, Mr McGowen believes that this a major mistake by the Government.
“We are going back to what it was like in the 1970s,” he warned. “If a teacher is out for a day we can’t get a sub in any more. Previously we could get a substitute in for the day and we wouldn’t end up with students having free classes just sitting there twiddling their thumbs. What are we supposed to do now? We can’t just dump them in on top of the class next door if there’s not room.
“We can’t just leave them on their own in the room, because as the Department will tell us that’s a serious violation of health and safety legislation,” he added. “This is really going to affect how schools are run from now on. We all know having a well educated youth is key to the future of the country and now we’re cutting back on education.”
Mr McGowen also believes that the ‘no sub’ rule will seriously cut the number of extracurricular activities on offer in the school. “We are involved in a number of extra curricular activities in the school, sporting, drama, European studies, cross-community projects in Northern Ireland, and debating,” he said. “We might not be able to offer those activities anymore, because we can’t get the teachers to cover the classes when those involved with the activities are away. These cuts will be disastrous for schools and the way we want to run them so the students can get the best out of their education.”
In Ballinrobe Michael Brett, principal of Ballinrobe Community School, was also very critical of what he described as “the sleight of hand” by the Government in relation to increased class sizes. “The reality is it’s to cut the number of teachers in the school and by cutting the numbers you’re cutting the choice of subjects we can offer students in the future,” he warned. “This cutting of the subject choice will be detrimental to the future of the students.”
Mr Brett was also angered by the cutting of expenditure on programmes that people may not see on the outside. “I’m really annoyed about the cutting back on grants to certain programmes which are going to affect the most needy in our communities,” he said. “They are going to cut back the funding on the school book grants, on the Leaving Cert Applied course, transition year along with the increase in the school bus fare. This is going to hit the people who are the most needy in our community.”
