Cuts in education - Subjects are key to job prospects

Repeated calls have been made down the years for greater emphasis on certain Leaving Certificate subjects including chemistry, physics, accounting, and economics, some of the educational ingredients deemed vital for Ireland’s future growth and development.

Undeniably, therefore, parents and pupils alike will be shocked by a survey showing that almost two-thirds of Irish secondary schools are considering dropping those subjects. It is hard to imagine a more backward step at a time when the thrust of education should be about enhancing rather than diminishing the range of subjects available to students.

According to ASTI, the secondary teachers’ union, the possible move is a boomerang effect of Budget 2012 which was a blatant Government smash and grab raid on already inadequate school resources to underwrite its penal austerity programme to bail out banks destroyed by reckless, and possibly criminal, activities of bankers.