Parents asked not to Pay for Upkeep of Primary Schools.

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Saturday January 27, 2007 18:14 by ChrisM

Principals ask Parents to cease Fund-raising in September '07

The Irish Primary School Principals have press-released asking Parents
of Primary school-children not to contribute cash to the upkeep and building
funds of their schools in September 2007.

This is because they would like the State to meet the exorbitant costs
of mantaining and renovating of schools. Each year we are asked to
contribute money through fund-raising drives, 'voluntary' contributions
and sales (raffles, bread sales, shows) and we do.

The cost of sending a primary school child to school is exorbitant:
There are no book-schemes.
There are no hot lunches.
Uniforms are expensive.
Shoes are expensive.

Many schools are existing on subsistence because the dept of education is
refusing to dip into its budget, the underspend in the Dept this year was in
millions.For that privilege we have a brain-drain of talented teachers to the
private sector where fees are upwards of 3,500 euros per annum, a Catholic
Board of Governors and Management Team and huge class sizes.

The state sector costs per child up to a 1,000 euros.
Some families cannot meet the annual cost.
The back to school allowance scheme is 150 euros per primary child.

Add to this the problem of accessing educational psychologists
who cost 450-500 euros if your kid has a learning difficulty, the
cost of tuition, insurance fees (all primary schools now insure
the kids against accidents and death).

Some people in Dublin can afford to send two to three kids into private
education , whilst others are deopending on outreach to bring
their kids to school and give them a hot breakfast. Many schools have
relationships with local bakeries and charities to provide sandwiches
at lunch times and home work clubs for working parents.

The campaign of asking parents not to address the issue of fund raising
in the hope that the Government will face up to the right to education
of all Irish Children ,will be updated regularly.