Sinn Féin supports significant pay improvements for teachers and opposes the €80 million subsidy of fee-paying schools, writes Seán Crowe, the party's education spokesman

Sinn Féin believes that education is a basic and fundamental human right. It should be universally available and should assist everyone without exception to develop her or his full potential. There is no question that we now have the wealth available to educate our whole population to the highest standard. Indeed, our future economic development and reaching our full potential as a nation depends on this.

Instead of guaranteeing everyone equal access to the highest standard of education, however, current Government policy has entrenched educational inequalities and a two-tier system. Although we are one of the wealthiest states in Europe, our educational expenditure is one of the lowest.

At post-primary level, free education is a myth, as parents have to pay increasing registration fees as well as the considerable added cost of purchasing expensive textbooks.

More than 80 per cent of school computer equipment was paid for not by the State but by additional fundraising by schools and parents. Meanwhile, taxpayers pay €80 million per annum to subsidise the private education system, even though most people's children will never have a chance to attend these exclusive fee paying schools.

As a consequence of this education policy, more than one in four of this State's 442,000 primary school students are taught in classes of 30 or more, and we have the second-largest average class size at primary level in the EU.

Many pupils are taught in inadequate, run-down facilities, the vast majority of schools are forced to use computers and equipment that is obsolete, and too many children still go to school hungry.

Class background continues to determine educational options. Pupils whose parents are skilled or semi-skilled workers are still hugely underrepresented at third level, with only one in five making it onto college.

This is in sharp contrast to children whose parents are professionals, almost all of whom go on to third level.

There is still not enough support for those who want to learn a trade. The numbers leaving school without qualifications has remained unchanged since the 1990s and an estimated 1,000 students per year don't make the transition from primary to secondary education. Approximately one-quarter of the adult population have literacy and numeracy problems.

In this era of unprecedented wealth, there is no excuse for such statistics, which are a damning indictment of successive governments run by the establishment parties. Each one of these parties now make claims to prioritise education, but only Sinn Féin has a credible plan and the political will to make education available to all as of right, on the basis of full equality.

Sinn Féin's top education priorities are reducing class sizes, tackling educational disadvantage and providing sufficient school places in decent school buildings.

Sinn Féin is proposing to increase educational spending from 4.5 to 6 per cent of GDP and in conjunction with this overall capital increase, spending at primary and indeed pre-school level should be substantially increased.

Last year, €10,218 was spent to maintain a pupil in third level, while only €5,711 was spent per primary pupil. If we are to tackle educational inequality and disadvantage, education spending needs to be focused on the early years and tackling the problem at its root.

We are calling for the immediate provision of a pre-school session of 3.5 hours a day, five days a week for all children aged between three and five. We want to see the implementation of the Government's commitment to reduce class sizes to a ratio of 20 to one for all children under nine and for this to be extended to all primary classes as quickly as possible.

This will require substantial planning - to implement the first phase will require thousands of extra teaching posts and additional classrooms so agreed timetabled plans are required to bring this about. And over the lifetime of the next government, we want to see the phenomenon of children being educated in prefab buildings brought to an end.

We are calling for the provision of naíscoileanna and Gaelscoileanna where there is a demand and for the Irish language to remain a core subject to Leaving Certificate level.

The commitment and dedication of teachers, working at the coalface of our education system, must be rewarded with fair pay and conditions.

Teachers play a crucial role in educating our children and should be fully supported. The teaching profession, while an extremely rewarding one, is also stressful, with teachers having to deliver a packed curriculum in overcrowded classrooms and attempting to deal with discipline problems.

Sinn Féin supports significant improvements for teachers in terms of pay and conditions to reflect their experience and dedication.

We also believe in making funding available for professional development opportunities and incentives for those teachers working in disadvantaged settings. Sinn Féin also demands greater support for teacher exchange schemes between the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland and also for a scheme to cover the costs for trainee teachers over the duration of their training placement.

During the lifetime of the last Dáil, Sinn Féin introduced a motion regarding the provision of education for children with special needs; pressed Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin to increase resources for the National Educational Psychological Services and to reduce waiting times for children to be assessed; demanded more speech and language therapists, urged the Minister to protect the rights and entitlements of children with autism and special needs and to open the Middletown Centre of Excellence for Autism.

We supported the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) campaign to reduce class sizes and have pressed for more funding for modernising and constructing school buildings and other educational facilities.

We urged the Minister to increase resources for adult literacy; proposed a progressive national strategy on lifelong and work-based learning focused at those most in need of training, re-training and upskilling, pushed for the abolition of part-time fees and advocated the introduction of paid educational leave. If Sinn Féin is in government, after this election these issues will continue to be at the top of our agenda.

This is the last in a pre-election series of articles from the main Opposition parties on education