Paying for primary education ‘immoral’

CHILDREN’S charity Barnardos has said it is ‘absurd and immoral’ that the Government does not fully cover the costs of primary education.

Chief executive Fergus Finlay has blasted the over-reliance of schools on handouts from hardpressed parents, when free primary education is provided for under the Constitution.

The charity has costed the price of making primary education ‘genuinely free’ at €103million a year, a ‘tiny proportion’ of the Education Department’s annual budget, Mr Finlay said.

‘In a growing economy, it’s nothing, it’s petty cash,’ he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland. ‘And in an economy that says that every child has a constitutional right to free primary education, it’s absurd and, in my view, slightly immoral for our Government to say we’re not prepared to spend that money.’

The call comes in the wake of a new survey that showed the number of schools seeking so-called ‘voluntary’ contributions from parents has risen by 11%.

The survey showed that the average cost of sending a fourth-class pupil to school is now €360, with that figure rising to €765 for a firstyear pupil at secondary school.

Opposition parties are now demanding the Government make good on its commitment to increase spending for capitation grants, which cover the day-to-day costs of running schools, including heating, cleaning, lighting and maintenance.

Parents are forking out to cover these costs, while also struggling with the ever-increasing price of back-to-school basics.

Fianna Fáil education spokesman Thomas Byrne blasted the Government as being ‘totally out of touch’ on the costs facing parents’.

Sinn Féin has also piled pressure on the Government by making similar calls.

‘The Government needs to consider a rise in capitation grants in the upcoming Budget,’ said Kathleen Funchion, the party’s education spokeswoman.

She added that Sinn Féin will relaunch a bill that aims to regulate the circumstances in which schools can ask for voluntary contributions when the Dáil returns in September.

In April, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he would ‘consider an increase in capitation’ as per the Programme for Government, but warned that this would be have to be balanced against demands for pay restoration from teachers.

Yesterday, when contacted by the Irish Daily Mail, the Department of Education did not confirm if it concurred with the €103million costing of free primary education presented to them by Barnardos.

The press office did not answer the question, but instead pointed to a €1billion increase in the education budget over the last two years.

‘To have spent the extra money which has been called for in 2017 or 2018 would have meant less money was available to hire new teachers and SNAs, or to tackle educational disadvantage, or implement circular reform,’ a spokesman said.

‘In relation to voluntary contributions which are mentioned, they 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.

‘The Parent and Student Charter Bill 2018 will also require schools to publish a financial statement, which will show how any voluntary contribution is spent by the school.’

james.ward@dailymail.ie

Parents struggle with the rising costs