Commitment to rural school transport questioned

CHURCH OF Ireland members in parts of the State have expressed “deep concern . . . about long-term commitment on the part of the Department of Education and Skills to sustained provision of school transport in rural areas”, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson has said.

“Were this to be withdrawn, a very real possibility would be school closures by parental decision to have their children educated at schools geographically closer to home beyond and 

without our particular system,” he said.

A survey last June showed “overwhelming support for Church of Ireland national schools”, he added. 

“Our eyes are open to the realities of recession, our ears are constantly bombarded by the rhetoric of recovery; we fully accept the need for relevance in education – yet many of us bemoan the turning of the educational experience of young people into a commodity, the definition of the worth of which is its capacity to deliver for the professional labour market.”

In his presidential address to the Dublin and Glendalough diocesan synod in Dundrum, he added: “Throughout the summer period, there was considerable chaos caused in relation to teacher redeployment with a further follow-through of anxiety to students emerging from CICE at that time seeking to secure jobs.

“The reasons for both anxiety and vigilance are clear,” he said. “The department’s stated objective is one of finding significant further savings, in the region of €1 billion over the next four years.”

The proposals to again raise the pupil/teacher ratio at primary and secondary level “accelerate the risk of the reduction of pupils’ educational experience”, he went on. “Into this equation we need to throw the department’s own projection that primary school numbers are due to rise by 6 per cent over the above four-year period.”

Where healthcare and the Church of Ireland were concerned, he said, “we embrace the need for contemporary governance arrangements expected in modern healthcare, balanced with honouring past traditions. 

An example of our commitment to give assurance on the delivery of patient-centred care in the contemporary healthcare service is demonstrated by our willingness to implement change in the areas of governance and change at Tallaght Hospital.”

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