Doherty slates "educational apartheid" 10.08.07

DONEGAL Senator Pearse Doherty has called for the abolition of an annual €80m public subsidy of private schools. He urged Education Minister Mary Hanafin to redirect the taxpayers' money towards parents struggling to put their children through school.
“The fact that taxpayers are subsidising private elite schools to the tune of €80m a year is unacceptable. "This Government’s educational policy is facilitating a two-tier educational system whereby the socio-economic background of a child’s parents largely determines their educational and future employment options," said the Sinn Féin senator.

He said it cost an estimated €5,000 a year to put one child through school, with parents facing the majority of the financial burden. "A further subsidisation of private schools by taxpayers is absurd especially when one considers the high entrance fees and discriminatory policies that preclude the majority of children from attending them." Senator Doherty said his party was "passionate and committed" to creating an education system based on inclusion and equality. “The Government is intensifying educational apartheid with the public subsidisation of so-called elite private schools that exclusively cater for children from wealthy backgrounds. It seems they claim to cherish all of the children equally, but some more equally than others.”

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