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Classes will be empty on Tuesday. Classroom via Shutterstock
Purple Monkey Dishwasher
Teachers aren't backing down - they're going to strike on Tuesday
The ASTI says they need more movement from Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan.
TEACHERS ARE GOING on strike on Tuesday – and they’re not going to back down.
Around 350,000 students will be affected as teachers strike in protest against changes to the Junior Certificate programme. Under the changes, teachers would be obliged to mark 40% of the work of their own students, something they say is not practical.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, the head of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland (ASTI) Philip Irwin called on Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan to move more on the issue.
He said that teachers would not be backing down on the issue and that it was “unfortunate” that the issue has come this far.
He said that the Junior Certificate marked a “mid-point in a student’s second-level career”, saying that the exams needed to be taken seriously.
He said that the changes were being made in an education system that was already reeling from budget cuts.
“It’s an education system that has suffered huge cutbacks over the last six years.”
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