National teachers yesterday responded to reports that students of private, fee-paying secondary schools have the best chance of attending university by warning that many primary pupils were so disadvantaged they would never even have the opportunity of applying for a place at third level.
In a trenchant criticism of government support for education in deprived areas, the INTO secretary general Mr John Carr said the drop-out rate in underprivileged primary schools was unacceptably high.
In some schools, students had a one in three chance of joining the ranks of the long-term unemployed, he claimed.
Mr Carr called on the Minister for Education to ensure that there was one teacher for every 20 pupils in schools designated as disadvantaged.
He said: "Recent coverage of schools and university places means little to many of our children and their parents. These are the pupils who have been left down by the State long, long before university education might even be an option."
Further investment in the Department of Education school completion program was urgently required, Mr Carr said. The State could save millions by ensuring poor students stayed in school.
He added: "The State invests only €20,000 in a child's primary education over eight years. It pays €25,000 to get the same child to Junior Certificate. But the State pays €100,000 per year to keep a person in jail. How different would the lives of so many individuals and indeed society as a whole be if just a fraction of that €100,000 was invested in meeting children's needs during the early years?"
Support services for disadvantaged students were poorly co-ordinated, Mr Carr said. A centralised "one-stop shop" combining the expertise of social workers, medics, gardaí and community volunteers was needed.
Schools in deprived areas must be encouraged to place increased emphasis on extra-curricular activities, especially sports and the arts, Mr Carr said.
He said: "Children from homes where poverty is not an issue and where parents are in a position to provide for their children have their worlds broadened and their horizons broadened during their primary school years.
"They are introduced to the arts - music, drama, visual art classes, they visit galleries, their involvement in sports is encouraged and facilitated, they join the local clubs, they get swimming lessons, participate in summer camps and go on trips abroad. These are the children who have a real chance of getting into university.
"At this very time, the horizons of the disadvantaged children are being narrowed. Their world is becoming limited to the streets, where many, in reality, are abandoned. The clubs they join and the lessons they learn differ greatly from the child in the most prosperous area," Mr Carr said.