SCHOOLS will have to foot the bills for teacher absences where staff are unable to return for classes which are resuming earlier than expected this week, according to Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe.

A TREBLING of public funding for the organisation helping the fastest-growing sector of primary education has been given a cautious welcome.

PROCEDURES for dealing with badly performing teachers must be updated urgently, primary school managers have warned.

A GROWING number of primary schools no longer have Church involvement in their day-to-day running, according to a management body.

THE Catholic Church should give up control of schools because many of them are enrolling their own members before children of other faiths, a parents leader said at the weekend.