Government must talk to teachers
The spectacle of secondary-school students holding banners against the ASTI this week and the Dublin government lapping it up, was nauseating to say the least.
Washing its hands of responsibility and playing students and parents off against the secondary teachers to try and break the ASTI dispute was a dream scenario for Bertie Ahern's government. However, for teachers who have exhausted every avenue over the last two years to realise their pay claim, it represented a depressing distortion of their intentions.
Does anyone really think that teachers want to jeopardise the education of young people they have seen through the academic system? It is out of desperation that they have taken to work stoppages, and responsibility for that desperation lies squarely at the feet of the 26-County government.
The Dublin government needs to help solve the problem by holding settlement talks without preconditions. It is not enough for the them to make sure that the Leaving Cert and Junior Cert exams take place, without considering what happens afterwards in terms of marking and the exams' standing
The bad faith being created by the government at present will, if it continues, have a lasting impact on the education system and staff relations when the dispute ends.
It is nonsensical to try to steam-roller the Leaving Cert through without any thought for what this will do to relations with teachers after the dispute, the future of the education system and the well-being and careers of students currently facing into exams. What we need is a resolution.
The question must be asked, Is the Government serious about resolving this dispute or is it more interested in showing that it's the toughest kid in the school yard?
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