Parents could face contributions rise

PARENTS FACE an increase of up to 100 per cent in voluntary contributions to schools as a result of Budget cuts, secondary teachers warned yesterday

Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) general secretary John White said 75 per cent of schools surveyed by the union will raise voluntary contributions from parents to cover cuts in supports for transition year, physics, chemistry and the Leaving Certificate Applied.

The other main findings of the ASTI survey include that more than half of schools in the survey could be forced to reduce subject choice for senior-cycle students; almost half of the schools said they would be dropping or curtailing programmes such as transition year, while 12 of the 20 schools surveyed said they would seek specific contributions from parents of students taking science subjects.

ASTI said the cutbacks on funding to schools “have caused great uncertainty as to whether schools can continue to provide a curriculum to meet the needs of all students in the coming year”.

Average-sized schools stood to lose three teachers or more, said the union. “If a parent learns that her child, who has been studying chemistry for four years, no longer has a chemistry teacher, there is a risk that students will be taken out of schools,” Mr White said. “School closures may follow.”

The combined effect of cuts in budgets for transition year, Leaving Cert Applied and Traveller support meant that schools would be forced to come to parents for more money, he said. One school which is designated as disadvantaged will be increasing the voluntary contribution of transition-year parents by 100 per cent to keep the programme going, according to the survey.

Programmes like the Leaving Cert Applied and the Leaving Cert vocational programme, credited with keeping vulnerable students in school, have also been hit. “Everything I had to keep the students in school is gone,” said one principal surveyed.

Meanwhile, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland has warned that classroom activities will be severely hampered in disadvantaged communities next September due to a shortage of books among students.