Government urged to commit greater funding to education

THE Government was urged yesterday to commit itself to a massive increase in spending on education.

Currently we spend 4.3% of GDP on education, compared with about 7% in other highly developed economies, such as Denmark, Sweden and the US.

NUI Maynooth Professor of Education Tom Collins made the call at a Fianna Fáil conference marking 40 years of free second-level education. Prof Collins is chairman of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), whose report, due next spring, will call for a radical overhaul of the teaching of maths, science and oral Irish.