Sir, – Diarmaid Ferriter (“There is an obvious solution to resented ‘voluntary’ school contributions”, Opinion & Analysis, August 18th) believes that the State should pay the €30 million school funding shortfall made by voluntary contributions. Carl O’Brien, meanwhile, asks “Should the State continue to provide €112 million a year to private schools?” (Analysis, Education, August 21st). In his article, O’Brien states that the Joint Managerial Body, which represents voluntary secondary schools, argues that “schools in the fee-charging sector . . . save the State money”.
If the Government were to use the €112 million it gives to private schools to pay the €30 million voluntary funding shortfall and to pay for books for all students outside of the private schools sector, then free education would be free. Funding private schools with State money does not save the State money. It results in increased costs in the “free” sector that are paid for by parents. – Yours, etc,
SEAN KEAVNEY,
Castleknock,
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Dublin 15.
Sir, – Two articles in Tuesday’s edition of The Irish Times demonstrate the problematic attitude to education in this country (“Spelling out the cost of education – the A-Z of back to school money saving tips” and “Private school numbers hit a record high”, August 21st).
Surely it is about time we stopped tinkering around the edges of education funding and doling out common-sense advice to parents as though a minor saving here and there will level the playing field. It will take more than a tenner in a jar every week to eliminate the two-tier education system that persists in this country.
As stated by the Joint Managerial Body, it may cost more money for the State to run more schools should teachers’ pay in private schools no longer be funded, causing some private schools to enter the public arena. So be it. Should this occur, we as a country can hold our heads up high and affirm that our State no longer supports and funds an elitism within a two-tier system.
In the event of private schools choosing to remain outside the public system and therefore requiring more funding, those parents with the funds and the desire to have their children privately educated could pay the increased fees and as such they will finally get a purely private education, not a subsidised, or public-private one as they currently do. – Yours, etc,
SHEILA MAHER,
Dublin 14.
Sir, – In the 1970s and 1980s, along with my four brothers, I attended a fee-paying secondary school because my parents valued education highly.
They were not “well-off” and paying school fees was a real challenge. There were no extensions to a modest bungalow, no foreign holidays and no multichannel TV. We weren’t poor but neither were we wealthy. By my observation, many of my classmates and other boys in the school came from not dissimilar backgrounds.
Whatever one’s view on the subject, people should not equate fee-paying education with affluence or seeking to acquire privilege. In my case, it was a matter of my parents prioritising and valuing education ahead of the many other ways they could have chosen to spend my father’s income. For that, I’m very grateful. – Yours, etc,
ANDREW KINSELLA,
Dublin 14.
A chara,– Imagine that you park your 05 Golf in the short term car park in Dublin and pay €3 per hour. Then a new Mercedes parks in the space beside you. Should they have to pay €6 per hour because they can afford a new car?
This is the logic behind the campaign to stop the State funding private schools. – Is mise,
DERMOT O’ROURKE,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.