Please see below the joint statement, issued by the CCO on Sunday 26 October
on behalf of the Bishops' Commission for Education and the CORI Education
Desk, concerning Budget 2009 and education provision. This statement is
also available on the homepage of www.catholicbishops.ie.
Regards, Martin Long
Bishops and CORI joint statement on the Budget and education provision
"The educational outcome for our young people is in direct proportion to the
support we give those who teach in our schools and those who manage them."
The Irish Catholic Bishops' Commission for Education and the Education Desk
of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) in a joint statement issued
today [26 October 2008] acknowledged that the current economic downturn
represents a very difficult situation for our country.
It is clear that in the recent budget difficult choices had to be made in
every area of Government spending. However, due to its severity, the
Bishops and CORI wish to express their concern at cuts in the budget for
education.
We are dismayed that the Budget for education hurts the most vulnerable
people in society. In particular we wish to highlight:
- Book Grants: the Book Grant is abolished for all schools not in the DEIS
(Delivery for Equality of Opportunity for Schools) scheme for disadvantaged
schools. As a consequence many disadvantaged children not in DEIS schools
will have to do without the most basic educational
resource: books.
- Traveller Grant: the total grant allocation for travellers is being
reduced by 50% for the year 2009/2010 and will only be paid to DEIS schools.
As a consequence, children of the travelling community will experience
cutbacks in the resources that afford them equal opportunity in the
education system, resources which help them secure an equitable future in
our society.
- Language Teachers: the imposition of a cap on the allocation of language
support teachers discriminates against the most vulnerable, namely the
newcomers in our schools who do not speak English.
- Leaving Certificate Applied Grant: This grant will be abolished from
2009/2010 onwards. Due to this decision, many of the most materially and
academically vulnerable will now lose out on the only accessible route they
have to the Leaving Certificate. In the absence of this grant schools will
struggle to provide the programme which inevitably will have to be curtailed
and some students will be in danger of falling through the system.
The above cuts compound an already difficult situation for the Irish
education system which receives proportionately less Government funding than
almost any other OECD member country. According to the 'OECD Education
Report 2008', the proportion of Ireland's GDP invested in education has
dropped from 5.2% in 1995 to 4.6% in 2005. The current OECD average for the
proportion of GDP invested in education is 5.8%.
Only two countries in fact, Greece and the Slovak Republic, invest less in
education as a percentage of GDP than Ireland. In these circumstances
education should not have to bear significant cuts in funding as proposed in
the recent Budget.
In the Bishops' pastoral letter of May this year, 'Vision 08', it was stated
that in Catholic schools, pupils "... who are educationally disadvantaged
and those with special needs are actively supported in achieving their full
potential. This demands additional resources."
CORI, in its pre-Budget submission this year, urged the Government to
protect the vulnerable in its budgetary planning. In addition, the Minister
for Finance, prior to the Budget, promised that the vulnerable would be
protected. The Government recently took the welcome step of providing
generous resources for those with special needs. It would be most
regrettable if it was now to remove these resources and make it impossible
for our teachers to serve the most disadvantaged children in schools.
We call on the Government to revisit this Budget, bearing in mind that it is
education that guarantees the future of the nation. It is how we deal with
the most vulnerable that defines our society. We urge policymakers to be
mindful that the educational outcome for our young people is in direct
proportion to the support we give those who teach in our schools and those
who manage them.
