INTO: Successive governments have failed to appreciate the importance of primary education and have under-invested, under-resourced and under-regarded the sector, INTO general secretary John Carr said yesterday.
The INTO annual conference also heard from Jim Power, chief economist with Friends First, who expressed alarm that parents - even in leafy, middle-class suburbs - were forced to fundraise for such basics as toilets and security fencing.
Mr Carr unveiled a new INTO plan for education. Its chief demand is smaller class sizes.
He said a quarter of pupils are in classes of 30 or more. A further half of them are in classes of between 20 and 30.
"Only one in four is in a class that meets the Government's stated targets on class size. This is where investment must begin; this is where reform must be focused."
Addresssing the Minister, he said the INTO recognised "the difficulties that your department had in implementing Government policy that all children under nine should be in classes of less than 20. We offered an alternative approach - a gradual and sustained reduction in the staffing schedule for schools.
"We willingly waited while you gave priority to children with special needs and disadvantaged children. We accepted the limitations arising from the decision to appoint only fully-qualified primary teachers."
He said teachers had proposed how a reduction in class sizes might be achieved by 2007/2008, at a cost to the Exchequer of 25 jobs. However, "your government failed to deliver! What an indictment of social policy!" he added.
Mr Power described the feverish fundraising he found among parents while treasurer of a school in Dublin.
"I was astounded when I discovered they were fundraising for proper toilets and to build a security railing around the school.
"On Monday mornings teachers were arriving to find syringes, condoms, beer cans and rubbish lying around the place.
"We felt it was incumbent to do something about it, but we had to raise €300,000 to do up the toilets and put up a security gate," he said.
He called for heavy investment in education and health services.