Budget 2009: Children Could Be Sent Home From Schools 15/10/08

Statement by John Carr, INTO General Secretary, on Budget 2009

15th October 2008

Children could be sent home from schools next year because substitute cover is withdrawn in Budget.

The INTO described the Budget decision to withdraw substitute cover from teachers who are sick as “adding insult to injury”. “Not only will class sizes increase, but now substitute cover for teachers who are ill is being withdrawn,” said the Union’s General Secretary, John Carr.

As a result of the Budget, from next January a teacher who is unfit for work for even one day will have to have a medical certificate in order for the school to employ a substitute. Prior to this a teacher could have up to three days uncertified leave with a substitute teacher provided.

“With classes already packed to over-flowing, splitting up classes will not be an option in most schools,” said John Carr. “Putting an extra five or six children into a class of thirty five when a teacher is absent is neither fair nor reasonable in today’s world.”

He said “the only alternative left for schools to consider is sending children home when a teacher is ill”.

“This Budget will heap further hardship on parents already struggling to balance home and school responsibilities. The Education Minister will have to answer to parents for this decision.”

ENDS