Education is our silver bullet — not a target for cuts

EDUCATION Minister Batt O’Keeffe recently suggested that in order to make up the current deficit in funding of the third-level sector, the Government might sanction the return of fees — the blame for our financial woes lying anywhere but in Government Buildings.

However, education is a right not granted through the generosity of the State — it is an inherent human right.

Education is the great equaliser. It means no matter what your home address is, or what your parents do or don’t have, every person has the opportunity to go as far in life as their talents will take them.

The ideal of equal access envisioned by the Fine Gael/Labour coalition that abolished fees in the 1990s has been eroded by ever-increasing registration fees and other rising costs of attending college.

Now there is a possibility that fees will be brought back.

As we aspire to a knowledge-based economy ready to face new challenges, education is our silver bullet, the solution to almost all our problems, social and economic.

An educated workforce with high skill levels is our only hope to compete in an increasingly globalised workplace. Every other west European country spends more on education than we do. We must do better.

The minister has argued that Fianna Fáil has massively increased spending on education over the past 11 years, as if we should be grateful for their benevolence from the party’s own coffers!

Even the most vociferous critics of the Government concede education spending has risen over the past decade or so, but we haven’t got full value for it.

Most third-level institutes routinely waste huge sums of money and it is only with the recent financial squeeze that the Government has suddenly discovered that profligate waste is not something to be condoned but rather condemned.

What is required now is political courage of the kind shown by John Bruton, Ruairí Quinn and Niamh Breathnach who abolished fees at a time when the State coffers were not overflowing. They made a decision to prioritise education when additional monies were needed in all departments.

The reverberations of that decision echoed for a long time in the roar of the Celtic Tiger. No doubt the Government will say the return of fees is courageous given the unpopularity of such a decision with the electorate. However, it is a cop-out — the easiest solution for a Government four years away from a general election and unwilling to tackle systemic problems with State spending in general.

Batt O’Keeffe and the Government have an opportunity right now to reform the third-level sector, to end waste, set up sustainable funding models, ensure value for taxpayers’ money and, above all, guarantee a world-class education to all Irish citizens who want it.

If the Government foolishly decides to press ahead with this proposal, then the Union of Students in Ireland and its constituent unions, parents’ groups, a whole chorus of lobbying groups and indeed the opposition parties will fight it every step of the way.

The depth of the minister’s commitment to the proposal will be revealed when the Dáil resumes for this term.

Colm Murphy

Students’ Union

Waterford Institute of Technology

Waterford