Councillor Ted Tynan has said that government cuts which will
mean a further increase in the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools are a
direct attack on children’s futures which will affect them for the rest of
their lives.
The Mayfield based Workers' Party councillor spoke after attending a public meeting called by teacher and parent
representatives at primary level in Cork this week. There he pledged strong support for the
fight against the proposed increase in class sizes due to forthcoming budget
cuts.
“The idea
of increasing class sizes is outrageous”, said Cllr. Tynan. “We already have
the 2nd highest primary
class sizes in Europe. We are 2nd only to the UK. At present 120,000
Irish primary school children are in classes of 30 pupils or more. For any
government to propose making it higher is an obscenity”.
“It has
been proven by numerous studies that the higher the class sizes the less
individual attention children can receive. This has severe implications for
children with special needs - both academic and emotional needs - particularly
when one considers that schools in recent years have lost a range of teachers
including traveller teachers, English language teachers, special class
teachers, enhanced disadvantaged staffing as well as a 10% cut in Resource
hours”.
Cllr.
Tynan said that debate on the budget was being reduced to a phoney battle
between Fine Gael and Labour over how cuts were going to be implemented. “There
is a more important issue here”, he said, “it is whether the demands of the
banking elites and the illusion of economic stability are more important than
our children’s futures. The decisions
made today will affect this country in decades to come and more importantly
will decide whether some children are left behind permanently due to the
demands of government, big business and the EU”.
“For over
half a decade now budgets have been callously slashed and the needs of ordinary people swept aside to bail out the
banking and capital elites. It is time to shout Stop and talk about human
beings instead of billions, otherwise we are storing up real problems and will
not be forgiven by future generations for the damage done today”, said
Councillor Tynan.
