Teachers consider school ban on sports [IrishTimes]
- Published: 11 December 2009
REACTION: A BAN on all school sports and other extracurricular activities is one of the options under consideration by teachers in response to the Budget pay cut.
The proposed ban could affect key school competitions in GAA, rugby and soccer. It could also have a huge impact on Transition Year programmes and on a range of musical and cultural activities.
At this stage, teacher unions say there is no question of any disruption to Leaving Cert oral exams scheduled for March. However, the unions may come under pressure from more militant members to disrupt the exams.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Extra 1,400 teachers for almost 14,500 more pupils [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 10 December 2009
THE revised Programme for Government has meant there will be far less upheaval in classrooms at primary and second-level schools next year.
While pay cuts across the public sector will save more than €350 million at the Department of Education alone, an extra 1,400 teachers will be in place due largely to commitments secured by the Green Party in October. These posts will cost an extra €26m next year, to cover the enrolment of almost 14,500 more students next autumn than in this school year and to create 350 posts at schools worst hit by the rise in the pupil teacher ratio in the October 2008 budget.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Time to transform school into a place where kids go to learn, not to power down [siliconrepublic.com]
- Published: 10 December 2009
Remember, the €150m investment in schools’ IT is really just the first step on a longer journey.
It was the flamboyant New York publisher Malcolm Forbes who once said that education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Govt outlines 2010 investment in broadband and ICT for schools [siliconrepublic.com]
- Published: 10 December 2009
Communications Minister Eamon Ryan TD said last night that €45 million will be spent on modernising Ireland’s telecoms infrastructure and that 100Mbps of high-speed broadband will be delivered to 78 secondary schools across the country.
The €45-million investment revealed under yesterday’s Budget for 2010 includes the National Broadband Scheme to bring broadband coverage to target areas in rural Ireland where broadband coverage is deemed insufficient.
School building budget hit again [labour.ie]
- Published: 10 December 2009
The budget for the School Building Programme has been cut by €145 million since 2008. At the start of 2009, the government promised to spend €652 million on primary and secondary school buildings. Yesterday’s budget saw this fall to just €507 million. The Minister for Education and Science claims he will spend €579 million on new schools in 2010, but he is actually just including €72 million that he failed to spend in 2009. This is simply a cutback in disguise.
Full Story: www.labour.ie
