Calls to end cap on PLC places

THE cap on places on Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses must be removed to give disadvantaged students a chance to continue their education.

President of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) Paddy Healy said many young people, including those who have done the Leaving Certificate Applied programme, rely on these courses to access further and higher education.

“It is incomprehensible that the recent report of the Government’s Enterprise Strategy Group should recommend a ‘One Step Up’ initiative in relation to the educational attainments of the entire population on the one hand, and that the Minister for Education should be cutting back at the same time on the sector which has already implemented such a policy with dramatically successful results,” he said.