'We've gone past crisis' - Primary headteacher says strike action is necessary

A Newry Primary School Principal has called on politicians to act on their words as teachers prepare to stage strike action next month.

Tuesday February 21st will see staff conduct a 12-hour walk-out following a long-running dispute over pay and what's seen as years of underfnding in the sector.

Kevin Donaghy, Head Teacher at St Ronan's Primary School in Newry, says all political parties here have claimed education is a 'priority' - now he wants them to prove that is the case.

"One aspect of this is about teachers’ pay, but there is a bigger picture here. And the bigger picture is education, and in its entirety, it has been completely underfunded," he says.

"The education authority has been asked to cut 100 million pounds from their budget. By this March, schools will also have had their budgets reduced by between 15 and 30 pounds per pupil. That was on the behest of the Secretary of State whenever he told the Department of Education, that the trajectory of their budget was far in advance of what they were being allocated, and that they required to reduce their spending.

"It's about our children and investment in our children's future.

The only people who can resolve this are the politicians and the local politicians in discussion with the Secretary of State. Education requires a significant amount of funding and we're just not getting that. This is been what has been happening to education over the last 10 years. Under all the education ministers who have come from both the DUP and Sinn Fein, they have overseen the cuts that are impacting schools today," Kevin feels,.

"They need to sit down and they need to draft a budget that is realistic and will meet the needs of schools and the children. We’ve heard how education is a priority. All the political parties have said that. This is the point where they need to step up to the plate and say we now need to put the money and investment into schools.

"If they're not able to do that as part of the Northern Ireland executive, then they need to meet the Secretary of State and make that plea that the budget he has set is not workable, and does not work for schools in Northern Ireland.

I think we've gone past crisis. A lot of school leaders have been warning about this for a number of years. People have known about this for years and I think we're now falling off the cliff edge," he adds.

Kevin says that while the industrial action is unwanted by teachers, it's also necessary.

"This is about short term pain for long term gain," he admits.

"Teachers don't want to take this action, but the problem is that no-one has been listening to schools, school leaders or teachers. They've not been listening to the fact that schools are significantly underfunded and I think teachers have actually been forced into this.

"They've been backed into a corner to take this action."

In terms of the budgetary pressures on education, a Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said, "The pressures affecting the Northern Ireland Department of Education demonstrate the pressing need to have locally accountable political leaders in place to take fundamental decisions on Northern Ireland's public services.

“The previous Executive failed to agree a Budget and with a budget gap of some £660m and no Executive in place, the Secretary of State has had no choice but to step in to deliver a budget for Northern Ireland.

“The Secretary of State introduced the Northern Ireland Budget Bill on 12 January that will implement the budget that was set on 24 November. The budget has increased Education funding by giving it a total allocation of £2.64 billion which is an additional £286 million on top of last year’s spending.”