Cutbacks ‘destroying education system’

Children with severe mental health issues and others who are homeless are being left without help in Ireland’s secondary schools because guidance counsellor cutbacks have “destroyed” the education system.

At the second day of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland annual general meeting in Kilkenny, teachers warned that vulnerable children are slipping through the net due to the impact of austerity.

Criticising the situation in a motion which received unanimous backing from 400 delegates, Helen Mahony, a teacher at Ballyfermot further education in West Dublin, said Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has “effectively destroyed the education system” by removing guidance counsellors from some schools.