SVP: Charities filling investment gap in education sector

Insufficient investment in schools is leading to charities supplementing them through supporting parents who cannot afford year-round costs, a Cork SVP representative has explained.

Three leading charities have called on the minister for education to initiate an independent review of the cost of running State education schools across the different school types.

The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP), Barnardos, and the National Parents Council wrote to Norma Foley asking for a meeting in advance of the budget to discuss their recommendation.

The three organisations share their concerns of underfunding in education at a time when the latest OECD report states that Ireland spends the least on education when compared with the 33 other OECD countries.

Cork-based Brendan Hennessy, from SVP membership support, told The Echo that underfunding of education causes huge problems for families already struggling to survive on low incomes.

He explained that the reason his organisation and the others are calling to meet the minister around funding of education “is because we’re funding them, parents are subsidising schools, people who can’t afford to pay, they’re coming to us — that’s the reality.”

Praising initiatives such as the back to school clothing and footwear allowance and the free school books for students in primary and the first half of secondary school, he said: “We know investment makes an enormous difference, we were able to report a 22% reduction in calls to the society this year.”

Mr Hennessy said there are costs “throughout the year” for families with children in school.

“There’s a focus on the cost of going back to school, but there’s voluntary contributions or costs throughout the year — the cake sales, the mile runs,” he said.

Mr Hennessy said although the Department of Education may insist costs are not essential, he said: “We’ve been approached about children being singled out or feeling bad because their parents are not able to afford to pay these voluntary contributions.

“Schools are under pressure, we have to acknowledge that, but organisations like ourselves are being approached about costs way beyond what a charity can be expected to assist with”, such as helping families afford assessments for children with additional needs or to buy iPads for families new to Ireland, he said.

He said that the independent research SVP, Barnardos, and the National Parent’s Council are seeking will help to make school costs more transparent and show where more investment is needed.