Govt defends school plan

The Department of Education has rejected claims by secondary school principals that the new scheme for supervision and substitution duties will cause further disruption when the new school term begins next month.

The National Association of Principals said the scheme barely differs from the one introduced last term, which led to increased student indiscipline and harmed the relationship between principals and teachers.

However, the department said today the new plan to hire part-time staff to cover supervision and substitution will not cause disruption.

It also insisted that schools will be given time to implement the plan.