Minister Quinn welcomes the successful completion of 14 new schools [education.ie]
- Published: 07 November 2011
The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today welcomed the successful delivery of 14 new schools under the 2011 Rapid Delivery Programme.
The 2011 Rapid Programme included projects for 13 primary schools and one post-primary school where accommodation could be delivered using off-site construction methods.
These schools serve rapidly developing areas, where either there was no existing school or where existing provision was unable to meet the demand.
This year's Rapid Delivery programme will see 3,500 current pupils benefit from modern energy efficient buildings and improved learning environments and will provide over 1,000 additional places.
The projects were tendered in late 2010 and construction commenced on the various projects between February and April this year.
By mid-November 2011 all 14 schools will be completed.
Full Story: www.education.ie
Up to 2,000 teachers to go in budget cuts [businessworld.ie]
- Published: 07 November 2011
Up to 2,000 teaching jobs are to be axed next year under budget cutbacks, according to a weekend report.
The jobs are to go across the primary and secondary school system in order to save money, the Sunday Times reports.
It quotes senior government sources as saying that education minister Ruairi Quinn and public expenditure minister Brendan Howlin are discussing cuts of between 1,500-2,000 in the number current total of 57,000 teachers.
Cutting back the numbers will provide 140m euros of the 2.2bn euros of cuts that are coming in the budget, it says.
Such cuts would push the post-primary pupil-teacher ration from 19:1 to 20:1 and raise the primary school ratio from 27:1 to 28:1.
Full Story: www.businessworld.ie
Up to 2,000 teachers to go in budget cuts [fxcentre.com]
- Published: 07 November 2011
Up to 2,000 teaching jobs are to be axed next year under budget cutbacks, according to a weekend report.
The jobs are to go across the primary and secondary school system in order to save money, the Sunday Times reports.
It quotes senior government sources as saying that education minister Ruairi Quinn and public expenditure minister Brendan Howlin are discussing cuts of between 1,500-2,000 in the number current total of 57,000 teachers.
Cutting back the numbers will provide 140m euros of the 2.2bn euros of cuts that are coming in the budget, it says.
Full Story: www.fxcentre.com
Talk of job cuts is ‘soul-destroying’ for teachers – union [thejournal.ie]
- Published: 07 November 2011
SPECULATION THAT AS many as 2,000 teaching posts could be cut as part of government cost-cutting measures is “soul-destroying” for members of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), the union has said.
The Sunday Times and today’s Irish Daily Mail both report that as many as 2,000 posts could be cut by the Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn, a decision that will push up Ireland’s pupil-teacher ratio, which is already one of the highest in Europe.
The Department of Education declined to comment on the speculation saying that plans for its future expenditure would be outlined on 1 December along with all other government departments ahead of the Budget on 6 December.
Full Story: www.thejournal.ie
Primary school transport charges set to double [news.eircom.net]
- Published: 07 November 2011
Annual charges are set to rise from €50 to €100 for individual children. The maximum charge where more than one child from a family uses transport services will also double from €110 to €220.
Rural families will be hit hardest by the measures, which will only scrape an estimated €2 million off the annual €178m school transport costs met by the Department of Education.
Junior Education Minister Ciaran Cannon faced a backlash from parents earlier this year when he drove ahead with the previous administration's plans to introduce primary school transport charges and cut back on routes.
Charges currently apply to approximately 20,000 of the 36,000 primary school children who avail of the transport services.
Full Story: news.eircom.net
