Parents facing weeks of chaos as strikes hit

More than 200,000 second-level students and their parents are feeling the first disruption of weeks of school closures as the first of seven teachers’ strikes takes place today.

Pickets are being placed by Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) members at the gates of 507 of the country’s 735 second-level schools. But there are greater concerns about what will happen when schools are due to re-open after next week’s mid-term.

The refusal of 17,500 ASTI members to do supervision or substitution work from Monday, November 7, will see nearly 400 schools close indefinitely. They have not even advertised for temporary staff to take on those duties, because the ASTI will not allow principals manage those recruited to do so.