This article is from page 13 of the 2012-08-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
INCREASED financial pressures on struggling families mean that a growing number are unable to pay volountary contributions.
According to a former President of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), Bernie Ruane, some Clare schools are receiving contributions from as few as 20 per cent of students.
Ms Ruane, who teaches at St Patrick’s Comprehensive School in Shannon, says families and schools are both bearing the brunt of cutbacks to the education sector.
She explains, “Some schools ask for € 50 but others ask for sums of of € 200 or € 250. Parents aren’t really able to afford that”.
Ms Ruane adds, “Parents don’t have it and the schools are not getting it in. I know that in some schools there are only 20 per cent of students paying a voluntary contribution. It’s not unwillingness. It’s just that people don’t have it. If schools don’t charge a voluntary contribution they don’t have money for games, photocopying, things like that. There’s no funding given for that other than what the parents give.”
“Schools are doing their best to cope but there are no year heads or anyone for students to talk to if they have financial problems. It’s very disheartening. You can’t keep paring back and you certainly can’t expect parents to fund education.
Ms Ruane urged schools to operate book rental schemes to help ease the burden on famillies. “Books are getting more and more expensive. You’re talking about € 200 to € 300 for books for kids going to second level. Uniforms are another big expense and it’s hard to know what value parents get from the uniform. They are not that hard wearing. Clothes can be bought cheaply but uniforms seem to be more expensive. ”
Ms Ruane continues, “Every school should make a conscious effort to operate a book rental scheme. Then they end up getting all the books for € 100, € 150. The price of books is really prohibitive. You could be talking about paying € 35 for one book. Most students would be doing 10 subjects for their junior cert alone.”
Coláiste Muire in Ennis has introduced Apple iPads for first years and Ms Ruane believes that it is inevitable that technology will replace books in years to come. “It will have to go that way and we will be talking about a paperless learning system. Schools have already gone that way in the sense that most schools are using interactive whiteboards.
“All the colleges are using systems like Moodle, which is a platform where they can put up the notes and student can access that from their own home. It will have to go that way but for it to go that way, we’re going to need very effective, high speed reliable broadband and not every area in Clare has that”.