Meanscoil Gharman embroiled in ‘voluntary’ contribution row
LEAVING CERT STUDENT WAS NOT GIVEN MOCK EXAM NUMBER AFTER MOTHER FAILED TO PAY CONTRIBUTION. MARIA PEPPER REPORTS
A SCREEN mother has spoken of the discrimination suffered by her Leaving Cert student daughter over her failure to pay the ‘voluntary’ contribution’ at Meanscoil Gharman in Enniscorthy.
Alex Kelly (17) of Ballybaun, Screen, wasn’t given a number to sit her mock exams which started last Friday because her mother Anne hadn’t paid the €120 charge.
Anne said exam numbers were distributed to everyone except Alex and one other student about two weeks ago but Alex didn’t tell her mother until last Tuesday because she didn’t want to upset her and thought she could handle it herself.
‘She rang me from school in a terrible state. The others had got their numbers and she had been trying for two weeks to extract a number from the principal but she realised she was getting nowhere.’
‘There was another girl sitting in the classroom with her who also hadn’t paid the charge and they were the only ones who didn’t get numbers’, she said.‘It’s stressful enough doing the Leaving Cert when everything is going well,’ said Anne who has paid the voluntary charge in previous years for both Alex and her older son who also attended the school. She said she couldn’t afford it this year because she had been out of work sick.
Alex was so stressed about her situation that she was unable to attend school last Thursday. ‘She is a little fighter but she couldn’t face it. She really tried to go in but she turned to me and said “Mam, I’m not feeling well”. She was sick with nerves.’
Anne said she received an email from the principal Norah Harpur last Wednesday hoping to ‘clear up some misunderstandings that have occurred’ and pointing out that ‘we do not have mock examination numbers for students.’
She further pointed out that ‘we do not have a voluntary contribution here in Meánscoil Gharman. The money that parents pay at the start of each year is to cover the items that are listed in an email which we sent to all parents in June each year.’
These items include a locker, a diary, photo-copying and other services which Anne said her daughter has not availed of in the current school year.
‘They went through the class and distributed exam numbers to everyone but they didn’t give one to Alex,’ said Anne. ‘They were told they would have to memorise the number for their French oral which was the first exam.’
Alex went back to school for the exam last Friday and the night before she was practising how to say ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have an exam number’ in French, according to her mother.
‘When she came home on Friday afternoon, Alex told Anne that she was required to fill out a form at the exam. She said the principal arrived with a number written in biro on a piece of paper and handed it to her, saying “you will get the real thing when you produce your diary”. Alex used this number again for her exams on Monday.
The Screen mother, who highlighted her daughter’s predicament on Joe Duffy’s ‘Liveline’ programme on RTÉ radio last Thursday, said she paid a separate fee of €40 for the State exams but, as the contribution was still outstanding, she received an email from the school asking if she wished it to go towards ‘costáisí’ or costs. Anne replied that the money was for her daughter’s mock exams.
‘They don’t call it a voluntary contribution any more, they say it’s for necessary costs, but they don’t have the authority to demand money like this. I have always paid the contribution but money is tight this year,’ said Anne.
She said her daughter was told she had to produce her diary for the exam number to be inserted in it but she hadn’t received a diary because she didn’t pay the charge.
Anne said she was aware that the Department of Education had issued a statement in relation to voluntary contributions in which it stated that voluntary contributions are permissible provided it is made absolutely clear to parents that there is no question of compulsion to pay and that, in making a contribution, they are doing so of their own volition.
An attempt was made to contact the principal of Meanscoil Gharman, Norah Harpur, but she was not available for comment