What’s so fabulous about village school Portakabins?

AS a teacher in Scoil Bhríde, Rathcormac, Co Cork, and a long-time Fianna Fáil voter I would like to express my outrage at Deputy Ned O’Keeffe’s comments regarding our proposed new school (July 4).

For a man of his professional status to be so glib and pass-remarkable about the state of children’s education is quite extraordinary.

Our “fabulous Portakabins”, as he put it so succinctly, are certainly not so. They are disgusting, damp, cramped hollow shells void of any true school-like features. Why exactly does he regard them as fabulous? I don’t recall him visiting them?

As a teacher who had to pull a crying child from a flooded yard recently (caused directly by the wonderful drainage these cabins allow), I ask him again – what is so fabulous about them?

I realise the difficulty in securing new school buildings. It is of course a direct result of the world’s most inefficient scheme, the school buildings programme, which makes it an almost pathetic struggle for communities to secure facilities for their children’s education. And what are these communities left to do? Go on bended knee to their local representatives and plead like Dickensian street urchins for all-powerful TDs to consider their case. What a simply disgraceful approach to education that we as a nation have pioneered (or put up with) for too long.

But it is what it is, as they say. So when the chairperson of our parents’ association spoke to the deputy recently he had the audacity to berate her for the people of Rathcormac not voting for him and therefore he would do nothing for her.

Such an attitude by an elected representative is nothing short of diabolical. To only “look after” certain voters reflects everything that is wrong about politics.

I look to last year’s big political story, Barack Obama’s election to the US presidency, and I’m reminded of his acceptance speech where he referenced those who didn’t vote for him.

I can tell you he didn’t share the “two-fingers to those who didn’t vote for me” attitude of Mr O’Keeffe, but rather reassured them he would be leading them as well as his supporters.

Do I, as a teacher, ignore the children in my class who might not like me as much as others? Absolutely not. It would show a clear lack of decency, commonsense and, most importantly, professionalism. Is this the attitude Deputy O’Keeffe will take to Europe if and when Brian Crowley decides to run for the presidency. I should certainly hope not.

But what do I know? I’m just an insignificant teacher in a school with a fabulous layout of cabins. All that matters is my vote, not my opinion.

And what of the children, the ones who are being so conveniently forgotten in all this?

They don’t even have a vote. But they will, for regardless of the conditions inflicted on them I and my colleagues (as well as their parents) will continue to educate them to the very best of our abilities. That’s what we do; we are professionals. Those children will grow; they will understand the true nature of Irish politics and those children will vote. My only wish is that their children will not be left with the inadequacies with which they grew up, both structurally and professionally.

Rory Gibbons

Fourth Class

Scoil Bhríde

Rathcormac

Co Cork