Frontline services saved but other cuts will bite

THE Government has said it has protected frontline education services in Tuesday’s budget but a range of other cuts and higher education costs will almost certainly make it far more difficult to achieve the smart economy we all aspire to.

The government’s budget measures came on the same day that the OECD, an international economic organisation, found that the drop in the reading ability of Irish 15-year-olds was bigger than in more than 30 developed countries in the past decade.

While this meant reading ability remained near the average for the OECD region it could not be ignored that previous reports have shown we are well below the average in maths achievement.

As the body representing second level principals has said: It is simply not good enough to be average.

While reasonable question marks do hang over the rate of decline reported by the OECD the fact is that enough evidence exists for continued and warranted concern.

Tánaiste Mary Coughlan has underlined her commitment to improving outcomes by reforming teacher training and addressing some of the subject overload faced by primary and second level pupils.

However, she and her government has quickly returned to sharpening the axe on a range of education services.

These include measures that will make it harder for all but the children of high-earning families to go to college, including a further 4% cut to grant rates and an increase in the student contribution by one-third to €2,000 a year. The extension of the distance from college that students must live to get a higher grant rate

will also lead to hardship for thousands of families.

The budget will also do little to address the horrible statistic which sees one in five secondary students leave school without their leaving cert. Further cuts are planned to resources aimed at improving this situation.

The planned increase in educational psychologists to help assess those with special needs has also been deferred. Supports for less well-off students and those more likely to perform poorly at school or to attend college also face further deterioration.

The Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme will have 200 fewer posts and a 5% cut in funding, 125 fewer teachers will be allocated to help students whose first language is not English and 47 teachers helping disadvantaged rural schools are being axed.

The cost of getting to school, particularly in rural areas, is also set to rise by €50 to €350 a year for every second level child travelling on school buses and primary pupils will have to pay €50 a year for the first time.

The frontline may have avoided the axe but the less well-off may feel they have been sent to the trenches.