Page 37 - The Bellfort - Summer 2015

school. Teaching Unions have they need from the L.S.A if said the “disastrous” budget they are not in school. The threatened the delivery of strike could afect the pupils quality education here. This who need an L.S.A. and as it means if teachers are made says on BBC News website redundant there will be no that “In addition, our young one available to pick up where people will now be taught in they left of, this could mean larger classes; the increasing larger class sizes with more numbers of young people re- pupils making more demands quiring additional learning and less teachers. supports will not have their needs met and ultimately edu- How would you feel if As well as concerns for pupils, cation standards will decline these budget cuts will directly as systems collapse.” Is it fair your school closed afect the teachers as they will that young people will be down? be spending time on worrying placed in bigger classes? If about their jobs (as they won’t there are larger class sizes This is the question that some know how they will be afect- surely there are more distrac- pupils are facing due to poten- ed) instead of planning their tions to deal with? tial Educational Budget next class. This could mean Cuts. The Department of Edu- that they have to plan the According to the BBC, cation has to make nearly class as they teach. This could “Education provision is al- £200 million of savings which lead to a stressful environ- ready crumbling with the could result in up to 2,000 ment. This could potentially poorest sufering most. After teachers being made redun- make the classes in schools 4 years of cuts, schools will be dant. That means potentially worried and therefore be neg- unable to cope with this level one in every ten teachers in atively afected if their teacher of additional fnancial bur- Northern Ireland could lose is under a lot of stress. Gerry den.” Murphy said, “This re- their jobs. If asked some pu- Murphy, the Northern secre- sult quite frankly speaks for pils may say that they would tary of the Irish National be happy if their school closed Teachers’ Organisation said, but once reality hits, they “Teachers have endured pay quickly realise that education freezes, attacks on their pen- is the most important things in sions and increased workload their lives and their futures coupled with incessant de- could be in jeopardy if schools mands for change. This budg- were closed or if the number et demonstrates that these of teaching staf is re- sacrifces have all been for duced. Also they might sufer nought.” itself. John O’ Dowd has told socially as they may not see the education committee their friends ever again. Also the schools meals could schools will likely see 500 job be afected by the proposed losses for teachers and 1,000 When asked, several pupils budget cuts because they may for non-teaching staf due to said that if the school did not have the right amount of £28m cuts to his budget. Our close due to lack of teachers, money to make the school members are saying “enough they would feel concerned meals and to use good quality is enough”. In Northern Ire- and anxious if they didn’t have ingredients. This could make land, historically only 58% of the opportunities in education the pupils want to have a education funding goes direct- that they once had before the packed lunch instead of ly to schools, compared to 80% budget cuts. I asked some school meals. Murphy said, in the rest of the UK.” Some Primary School pupils how “The nutritional standards teaching unions and civil ser- they would feel if their teach- underpinning school meals vice unions took strike action ers had to go on strike and will sufer as a consequence of against the cut last Fri- they told me that they would this disastrous budget.” day. How many more strikes feel very sad if this happened are on the horizon? as it would mean they may not How will a strike afect pupils? be able to complete their edu- Pupils receiving L.S.A help may Reported by Sarah Ann Davis cation in the same primary not get the full support that and Chloe Mawhinney for BBC THE BELLFORT SUMMER 2015 37