Leaving Cert students who were turned away from their school in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, yesterday have appealed to other pupils to turn up for classes today, writes Chris Dooley, South-East Correspondent.
Five students who turned up at Ard Scoil na nDeise were told by the school principal, Ms Margaret O'Brien, there could be no classes because of the teachers' refusal to do voluntary supervision.
Later three of the students and some their parents made an appeal on local radio for others to arrive at the school today. Parents, they said, could offer to take the students out of the school at break times.
Ms O'Brien said the board of management had taken a decision that classes could not take place on non-supervision days.
This was following advice from the joint managerial body, which represents school managers nationally, that students would not be covered by insurance in the event of an accident.
The three students, Louise Foley, Helen McCarthy and Angeline Kiely, told the Deise a.m. programme on WLR FM they were afraid they would not get the points they needed in the Leaving Cert. They predicted many students would end up repeating the exam.
The principal, Ms O'Brien, said parents offering to take students from the school during breaks was not a solution to the problem7. Classes also had to be supervised when teachers were on sick leave.
North-West: A call for parents to send their children to school despite the ASTI action led to some confusion in the north-west, and many parents contacted schools seeking advice, Theresa Judge, North-West Correspondent, writes.
Most parents, however, followed advice to keep children at home, and fewer than 10 pupils arrived for classes throughout Donegal and Sligo.
The ASTI representative in the north-west, Ms Mary Duggan, said teachers were angry that the Government had quickly agreed to talks with taxi-drivers' representatives while refusing to meet the ASTI.
South: In Cork city and county, more than 80 secondary schools remained closed yesterday due to the teachers' dispute, writes Dick Hogan, Southern Correspondent. A principal warned that the standoff between the ASTI and the Government was damaging the teaching profession and highlighting the fact that for young people it was no longer an attractive option.
Mr Jim O'Leary, principal of St Mary's Secondary School at Macroom, Co Cork, said out of 78 Leaving Certificate students in his school this year, not one planned to take up a teaching career after university.