This article is from page 18 of the 2008-10-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
PRIMARY schools in Ennis will lose 12 teachers if proposed Budget cuts go ahead as planned, according to provisional figures from Ennis Education Forum.
The forum, which represents pri- mary schools in the Ennis parish, met last week to discuss the cutbacks in education announced in the Budg- A
The most controversial proposal put forward by the Department of Education involves increasing class sizes from 27 pupils per class to 28 pupils per class.
Initial figures from the Education Forum say as many 12 teaching posts could be at risk, if the proposals are enforced.
Margaret Cooney, Principal of the Holy Family Senior School and Forum member, said the cutbacks would have very serious implications for schools.
“It is very serious, because I think maybe people don’t generally under- stand how much of an impact this is going to have. If you’re short a
teacher, then it’s going to be a case of having to divide three classes into two and it’s the children will suffer as a result.”
Ms Cooney said other issues such as the loss of substitution cover would have major knock on effects.
“If you don’t have a situation where substitute teachers are available to provide cover, what you’re going to find is that classes are being broken up and children are sent in groups of four or five to other classrooms. It’s a very, very Serious situation.”
She added, “I think this figure of 200 teaching posts being lost that the department has provided is a very conservative figure. It’s likely to be much higher. I was totally gob- smacked when I heard that they were going to introduce these cutbacks.”
“There is no evidence to suggest that they will go back on them but I hope that sanity will prevail.
“We had the second highest teach- ers pupil ratio in Europe and now we re on our way to having the high- est. That’s extremely serious and shoud be of great concern,” said Ms Cooney.