State accused of failing to help science teachers

THE Government has been accused of meaningless commitments to Ireland’s knowledge-based economy as long as it fails to appoint lab technicians to help science teachers.

Their concerns about the fall in numbers opting for science will be a major issue at next week’s annual congress of the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI), which yesterday highlighted that just 3% of qualifications attained in 2005 were in the field of science.

Of the 120,375 public education and training qualifications awarded in 2005, just 3,826 were in the field of science, according to the Government’s National Skills Strategy published recently. Recent figures from the Central Applications Office (CAO) also showed a drop on last year in students choosing science degrees as their first preference for college next autumn.