The crisis within the group recognised by the Government as the voice of secondary school parents has deepened.

The expected meeting of the National Parents Council Post Primary (NPCPP) due last weekend was rescheduled. And there have been more calls for a review of the council's mandate.

In recent weeks the council has been driven by a bitter internal split. Three of its five constituent groups have criticised its stance on the strike action by secondary teachers.

Its spokesman John Whyte blamed "newcomers" to the council for all of the current difficulties. These people, he said, did not understand how the parents' council used partnership - rather than confrontation - to achieve progress.

The NPCPP advised parents not to send their children to school, when secondary teachers recently withdrew from supervision duties. But the Congress of Catholic Secondary Schools Parents Association (CSPA) broke ranks with the council, advising parents to defy the teachers' protest. Last week, the Congress voted to remove Whyte from the parents' council "as he did not represent the CSPA". But Whyte maintains it has no legal authority to do this.

The CSPA has asked the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, to review the role and mandate of the parents' council.