Sir, – Primary school parents are having to dig deep into their pockets to fund the running costs of their children’s schools.
Sadly there is a much worse scandal when it comes to Catholic secondary schools.
ESRI statistics show the extent of Government discrimination against and underfunding of church secondary schools, which cater for just over half of the nation’s secondary school students.
When compared with Education Training Board (ETB) schools, church schools get 20 per cent less capitation. In addition in the case of church schools, the Department of Education holds back €562 per school teacher from allocated budgets. With this in mind, and like fellow parents of 200,000 students attending Catholic secondaries, I willingly joined them in paying the much-needed voluntary contribution, which averages €150 per student.
Sadly the annual request for a voluntary contribution is likely to continue as long as the Government’s discriminatory underfunding continues. – Yours, etc,
ALAN WHELAN,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.