PE grant scheme - Disgracefully in adequate response

It was reasonable to expect that a jaundiced view would be taken by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) at an announcement by Education Minister Mary Hanafin in relation to physical education.

The minister released details of a sports grant, which was dropped by her predecessor Noel Dempsey three years ago against the advice of the union.

The announcement, made at last weekend’s Árd Fheis which was a rallying exercise for next year’s General Election, was in any case a derisory €6.5 million.

It was paltry in the face of the problem in physical education that is being confronted every day by primary schools, largely because of Government inaction.

Despite the fact that Physical Education is an integral part of the curriculum, the vast majority of schools do not have a PE hall, and depend on the clemency of the weather, according to an INTO survey conducted only two years ago.

Such shortsightedness is having a detrimental impact on the health of the country’s young children, and any sparing of money in this regard is seriously irresponsible.

One-fifth of Irish children are either overweight or obese, and we have the dubious honour of boasting the worst childhood obesity level in Europe, which has been increasing in the past five years.

Eating habits are certainly a factor, but if the facilities are not there, or are haphazard, it is very difficult to inculcate in them an ethic of healthy living.

What the minister announced last weekend amounts to about €2,000 for each of the country’s 3,200 primary schools, which is ludicrously unsatisfactory.

If, as she maintained, it was part of the Government’s “continued commitment” to modernise facilities in schools, then it was a disgraceful and inadequate response.