Spiralling pupil numbers prompt fears for services

FEARS have been raised of further cuts to schools and college services as spiralling pupil numbers will require the employment of an additional 1,200 teachers in September.

Primary schools will have to cope with an estimated rise of 4,700 pupils to 510,300 and second-level student numbers are set to increase by 2,200 to above 314,000.

These changes will require 930 extra teachers in classrooms this autumn and add around €30 million to the Department of Education’s annual teacher salary bill.

But with a further increase of around 9,000 in student numbers in September 2011 – almost 50% more than this autumn – the cost of extra teachers is expected to be close to €50m.

With no increase in pupil-teacher ratios promised by the Government, this will mean thousands of extra classrooms will also have to be provided.

The funding will come out of a department budget of almost €9 billion, from which Tánaiste and Education Minister Mary Coughlan is already under pressure to make major cuts as part of an overall Government savings target of €3bn for next year.

While negotiations in this regard between the Departments of Education and Finance only begin this month, some funds have been ring-fenced. For example, a commitment secured by the Green Party in last October’s revised Programme for Government means schools will retain grants axed in the April 2009 budget, covering activities such as the operation of Leaving Certificate Applied and Transition Year programmes.

These commitments were welcomed by schools and teachers at the time, but will now force Ms Coughlan and her officials to find other areas where cuts can be made.

Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) general secretary, John White, warned last night, however, that there would be no scope for further cuts in second-level budgets.

The axe could fall heavily on third-level colleges, where pay bill savings of 6% have had to be achieved this year, despite rising student numbers and record demand for higher education places.

This will increase pressure on higher education institutions to increase income from philanthropy, research and fees from international students.

A report published yesterday, showing almost €430m a year is being generated by almost 26,000 overseas college students, was described by Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Minister Batt O’Keeffe as encouraging.

More than 50 colleges enrolled students from 159 countries last year.

But the minister said Ireland needs to capture a far greater share of the anticipated quadrupling of global students who study overseas over the next 15 years. All non-EU students are liable for full tuition fees which Irish and EU undergraduates have paid by the Government.