ESRI to warn on school cuts

STUDENTS from poorer backgrounds may suffer most from a budget cut that could see schools reduce guidance counselling next year, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) will warn today.

The think-tank also questions how Government education policy has been focused on literacy and numeracy, in a paper to be published at a conference this morning.

In last week’s budget, second-level schools learned that instead of having additional allocation of guidance counsellors, these staff must now be included in their general teacher allocations.