Primary education - the Cinderella of our education system

Posted on March 13, 2008 at 04:12 PM

This week the Dáil debated a Labour Party motion during Private Members' Time which called for the doubling of the capitation grant to primary schools.

At the core of the motion is the value of education. We know how important primary education is to future learning yet this is not reflected in the Government's record in the primary school sector. We have seen a failure to provide adequate capitation grants for primary schools, the abandoning of the election promise to reduce class sizes, the axing of the summer grant scheme of special and emergency repairs and the long fingering of many school extension programmes.

These points have been raised time and time again by the Labour Party and again during the debate this week.

However listening to the Government's side of the debate you could be forgiven for thinking that there is no issue of funding for primary schools. That most primary schools are housed in adequate and safe buildings and that most parents, teachers and principals are happy with the situation as it stands.

Compare the Government's rose-coloured glasses view of our primary schools with what almost every parent in the country knows; that our schools, particularly our primary schools, cannot make ends meet without generous voluntary contributions, fundraising and overdraft facilities.

Schools are contenting with inflation, rising energy costs, rising insurance premiums and now water charges. All this means that any incremental increases in the capitation grant is wiped out as soon as it is introduced.

A recent survey by the Irish Primary Principals Network and National Parents' Council found that 40 per cent of parents were paying over €100 in voluntary contributions for the day-to-day running of their local school. The IPPN also found that almost one-third of parents' associations have to raise €10,000 a year just to keep the doors open.

Another telling result from the IPPN survey found that 97 per cent of school principals found the capitation grant insufficient to meet the day-to-day running costs of their school and 80 per cent relied on fundraising for basic necessities.

This survey gives lie to any assertion that primary education is free, with parents having little choice but to hand over significant sums of money to keep schools running.

That is a far cry from the rosy picture painted by FF deputies during the debate.

Are you a parent? Is your child's school finding it hard to make ends meet? We would love to hear your experiences, which you can tell us in the comments section of this post.

Extracts from some of the Labour Party contributions to the debate can be viewed on our You Tube channel. Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore TD's speech is in two parts, part 1, part 2. You can also view Deputy Mary Upton's speech, Deputy Joanna Tuffy's speech and Deputy Joan Burton's speech on You Tube.

You can read the full debate on the Oireachtas website, you can find Tuesday's debate here and Wednesday's here.

Tagged with Education • PMM