Time to give our young people the education system they deserve

The start of the new school year heralds many different emotions; for young children, it can bring excitement or trepidation, depending on their attitude towards school; for parents whose offspring fit on that school uniform for the first time. It can be a poignant occasion and for those whose children near the end of their secondary cycle, there"s often a sense of impending loss. For the Government, though, there should be no mixed emotions. Instead, the occasion should simply bring a sense of embarrassment at the manner in which we are failing to provide for our young people. We report this week on how planned upgrades and extensions on a plethora of local schools remain on the back burner. In Ballinahown, a lack of a safe water supply has the school using bottled water. In Cornafulla, students still utilise a building erected before the Famine - whilst promises from no less than the former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern about a new school extension remain, sadly, unfulfilled. In Cornamaddy and Coosan, the long wait for promised new schools goes on and on. At secondary level, Athlone Community College has for many years operated at or above capacity. A pre-election announcement of a new school has also not translated into reality. That"s not to say, of course, that the Government has failed to back primary level education in Athlone. The new Gaelscoil building in Brawney stands proudly waiting for its pupils while the new Church of Ireland National School in Arcadia has just opened its doors. But even the Department"s own research shows this is not sufficient. According to the Department of Education and Science, the Athlone area has been identified as a population growth region - which requires extra spaces and school facilities. An analysis is apparently ongoing in this regard. However, there appears little commitment to meet the need which has been clearly identified for an expansion in educational facilities. Local schools, in a situation that is replicated nationally, are also being forced to fundraise to cover basic costs that should in essence be met by the State. It has led the INTO to express concern that the primary level education will be left 'under-funded'. The INTO is also arguing that the Government has failed to meet its commitments to reduce class sizes, which remain among the highest in Europe. According to figures from the Department of Education and Science the percentage of children in classes of more than thirty fell from 25% in 2006 to 20% in 2007. However, this is light years away from the government"s promise to reduce class sizes for young children to less than twenty. The fact remains that more than 100,000 pupils, many of them infants starting school for the first time, will be in classes of more than thirty. In Ireland, we tend to indulge ourselves in notions of having the best education system in the world. That little fallacy has been cruelly exposed in recent times - not, let it be said, by the hordes of dedicated school principals and teachers, but by our leaders. If, as generations after generations of these political leaders have claimed, the children are our future, then we owe them every possible change to grow and develop into fully rounded individuals who can contribute productively to society as a whole. Recent media focus on the antics of some Leaving Certificate youths from high-end Dublin academic institutions has tended to tar all our young people with the same brush. On the whole, we have a fine coterie of young people in this country. They represent themselves and their schools with distinction on the sporting fields of the nation and in academic and extracurricular pursuits. We should be proud of our young people - and more importantly, that pride should be matched with a determination and zeal to provide them with the education system they deserve.