THE Minister for Education is to tell the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) today she will press ahead with plans to redeploy teachers to disadvantaged schools in spite of the union's strike threat.
Ms Breathnach believes longer term educational measures to tackle disadvantage and raise drugs awareness are essential to complement the anti crime measures announced by the Government this week.
In a meeting with the INTO she will reaffirm her commitment to the "Breaking the Cycle" disadvantaged scheme, which proposes concentrating resources on 25 urban schools and 25 clusters of rural schools in disadvantaged areas.
The INTO has bitterly criticised her plans to redeploy up to 200 teachers from schools with falling enrolments to disadvantaged schools participating in the scheme. It claims many small schools will lose a teacher because of small falls in their pupil numbers, which in many cases have been reversed since these were recorded last September.
However, the Minister says an analysis of the 100 schools the INTO says will be affected by the redeployment shows that many will not lose teachers because the drop in pupils is so small.
The INTO is currently balloting its members on taking industrial action in the 100 schools.
