PRESS RELEASE - PPEF - County Kildare - 28th November

As Parents, Principals, and Teachers of the twenty-seven post-primary schools In County Kildare, we wish to point out the consequences for second-level education of the recently announced education cuts.  

•          1.     There will be a reduction of 51 post-­primary teachers in the county. As a result, classes will be bigger and the subject choices available to our pupils will be greatly diminished.  

2.     The grants payable  to post-primary schools in County Kildare will be reduced by €329,000 per annum.   

3.     Sporting and other extra-curricular activities will be greatly diminished as substitution cover for the teachers away on these activities has been abolished in all schools.  

4.     For the same reason, field trips in subjects such as geography and biology will be impossible to conduct.  

5.     All the new programmes such as Transition Year, Leaving Cert Applied and the Junior Certificate Schools’ Programme are threatened in our schools due to the loss of grants and loss of teachers.   

6.     School Book Grants have been abolished. In County Kildare over 1,800 pupils received help with the cost of books this year.        

7.     Parents will pay a lot more for post-primary education due to the increased cost of school transport and the need for schools to raise funds to meet new costs due to the loss of grants.•          •          

We believe that these massive cuts will harm our post-primary  education service. Our young people get just one chance in school. For this reason, we are calling on all parents, teachers and all who care about education to support the national rally in Dublin on Saturday, 6^th December.