Principals of second-level schools in Sligo have said they are worried for pupils' safety after 400 students protested in the town yesterday and damage was caused to school property. There were extra gardai on the streets, and one 16-year-old boy was arrested.
Large groups of students marched on each school, going on to the grounds and even into classrooms as lessons were being taught.
One principal said she was particularly concerned at the bad example this was giving to first-year pupils. Up to 1,000 students protested in Sligo on Friday and there were six arrests.
The principal of Sligo Grammar School, the Rev John Merrick, said three windows were broken in his school yesterday morning after up to 200 pupils marched into the grounds.
"We had two `visits' during the course of the morning but thankfully our students opted to stay at school," he said.
Mr Merrick said his main concern was for safety because the protests were disorganised. "They are aimlessly going around the town in large groups, and that is extremely dangerous," he added.
Mr Merrick said some of his students had joined Friday's protest. He accepted they had a right to make their feelings known to the public, but he believed pupils should have peaceful protests outside their own school rather than "descending on other schools".
Stones were thrown through two windows yesterday while pupils were in class, and a third was broken by students outside banging on it.
Ms Olivia Kelly, the vice-principal of the Ursuline College, said it was "terribly worrying" that pupils were going out on the streets.
She was delighted that all the sixth-years had stayed in class yesterday. Those who left were mainly second-years.
Ms Kelly said the protests were setting a bad example for first-years, and staff had no control once the pupils left.
Ms Kelly said some of the pupils who left classes said they had their parents' permission to take part in the protest, but they were stressing to parents that all classes were being taught even if only one pupil remained.
At Summerhill College, a boys' school with 800 pupils, the principal, Mr Michael Murphy, said about 150 students had left classes in the morning.
Students from other schools had also entered the premises.
Any pupil who left the school without the proper permission would be dealt with according to the code of conduct.
Mr Murphy said pupils from his own and other schools had behaved in a totally unacceptable way and he was "disgusted" by it.
"Coins and stones were thrown, but luckily nobody was hit or hurt," he said.
Students had come through the building and upset classes. "Luckily we had a large number of staff available, and there was a police presence, and no damage was done," he said.
He said he believed "irreparable damage" was being done to the education system because teachers, who had given much of their own time and shown "a huge amount of goodwill", would not be as quick to do so in the future.
The principal of the Mercy College in Sligo was not available for comment.