Teachers protest cuts to education and new teachers wages 24thOctober 2012

Описание: PRESS RELEASE
October, 24th, 2012.


Teachers' leaders address 'Valuing Education' protest
Speaking at today's "Valuing Education" protest at the Dáil INTO President Anne Fay said: "We are telling the government that there is no room to further cut funding to schools or teachers to classrooms. Education funding has fallen off a cliff in recent years while the system is coping with more and more pupils every year. The school system is at breaking point and we need to send a message to government today that education cuts don't heal."
ASTI President Gerry Breslin told the crowd that schools had endured four years of anti-education budgets: "A cut to the pupil teacher ratio does not mean one extra pupil in a class. It means schools dropping key subjects such as physics and modern languages. It means amalgamating classes so that every student has less time to interact in the classroom and less time to learn. It means reduced access to vital services such as resource teaching and guidance counselling. It means young temporary teachers -- the lifeblood of our schools -- lose their jobs."

TUI President Gerry Craughwell said: "We are here today to remind the Minister for Education that education cuts don't heal. Any further cuts to the education system will have a profound effect on our society, on our young people and on our chances of economic recovery."

"We currently have a situation whereby many of our talented, enthusiastic new teachers and lecturers are attempting to survive in part-time positions, with mere fragments of jobs. They are struggling to build a career on incomes which don't provide a basic standard of living. The TUI is here to demand that these teachers have a right to jobs not just hours."

Also addressing the protest, Yvonne Rossiter, a newly qualified teacher, said the treatment of new teachers is everyone's concern: "If we devalue the work of one teacher we short change every student and every teacher in our schools."

The teachers' leaders were addressing approximately 2,000 teachers outside Dáil Éireann today. The protest was organised by the INTO, ASTI and TUI.

Ends


Video © Paula Geraghty