Government owes us €2m, say VEC principals

ALMOST €2 million is still owed to vocational school principals for running supervision and substitution schemes in their schools because of an inter-union row, a conference heard yesterday.

The 240 principals of vocational schools and community colleges run by local Vocational Education Committees (VECs) claim they are being discriminated against, as they have not been paid the bonus given to counterparts in other schools for operating their school supervision schemes.

The dispute stretches back almost four years, since the original agreement between the Department of Education and teacher unions on supervision and substitution. Each teacher who makes themselves available for 37 hours of these duties during the school year is now paid almost €1,700, or a rate of €45.60 per hour.