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Pupils told to bring own toilet paper to school

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Pupils in a Co Cork school are being asked to bring their own toilet paper to school to help offset funding cutbacks.

The principal of St John's Girls National School in Carrigaline, Co Cork, confirmed she had sent out a memo to parents last week requesting that their daughters occasionally bring a roll of toilet paper to give to the class teacher, who would dispense the rolls to students when needed.

The bizarre request is part of the school's cost-containment programme so that dwindling state funding can be better spent on education, says principal Catherine O'Neill.

She refused to divulge the school's annual budget but said that the Government's abolition of various grants was behind the request.

The letter, dated October 1, reads: "Dear parent. From time to time we will request your daughter to bring in a toilet roll to her class teacher. These rolls will be specifically for your daughter's class and will be dispensed by the class teacher. We would also request that your daughter has tissues in her sack at all times. This is due to cutbacks. we are endeavouring to trim down expenses and ensure we use our grants towards the educational needs of your child."

She stressed that the request was just that, and pupils were not obliged to comply.

"We thought with this request that it wouldn't be a burden on families. We're just hoping to spend money on education," she said.

"We're all aware of cutbacks. We didn't mean to insult anyone. It's kind of humorous," she said, adding she didn't believe her school was the first to make such a request.

But a parent of one pupil said he was astonished when he got the letter last week.

"Are things really this bad? This is like something Frank McCourt might have written about growing up in the 1930s," he said. "I was flabbergasted."

INTO spokesman Peter Mullan said many schools were reeling under funding cutbacks and parents were being asked to shoulder an even greater burden of their child's educational costs.

Despite the Government increasing the capitation grant to cover basic operating costs in the last budget, other grants have been removed. They include the free-book scheme for low-income students, the school library grant and a special grant for Traveller children, he says.

"Two years ago, the Government promised to spend €252m to upgrade computers but not a cent has been spent on them," he said.

Consequently, parents are being asked to hold fundraising drives in order to pay for basic upgrades of their school's computer system, he says.

Students are also being asked to bring items like egg cartons and yoghurt containers to use for art class, he says.

"Parents were being asked to fund superficial things but now they're being asked to pay the core things," he said.

"It's no longer a few books or computer equipment. It's now for basic running costs," he said.

The Department of Education, however, said that schools were now getting more funding for basic operating costs after the capitation grant was increased last year to €200 per student.

He added that St John's Girls school had received close to €379,000 in state funding for its 540 pupils since January 2008.

"The school has not come to the department about any financial difficulty," he said.

Source Irish Independent

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this is absolutely ridicules it is a sad day in the world anywhere to request such a awful inconvienience, to our students much less the parents. If we allow our politicians to get away with this we might as well stop voting theydo hae our childrens best interest at heart. All theyare concerned about in my opinion is saving a buck and causing our schools to bre the burden of what ia our chikds rigt t a free education, and buyingtp is definetely now a free education.

Posted by white chicks 9 | 09.10.09, 14:35 GMT

"cut up the local newspaper into squares and use that"

Great idea Sturart, but you need to be carefull, sometimes more 'brown stuff' comes off the paper!

Stephen

Posted by Stephen | 07.10.09, 16:19 GMT

Ed. You seem unaware of the frequent North-South meetings, exchange of ideas and cooperation by the education authorities on both sides of the border . You ignore the Education Minister's stated objective of making education and schools an All Ireland matter. With apologies for adapting the Martin Niemöller poem;... first they asked parents for the toilet paper, then they asked for the pencils and paper, then the textbooks, then to teach .....
Ask any parent about the increasing demand for money from schools and you will gain a perspective on this story. The school did not report a financial difficulty to The Department of Education but told parents otherwise. Get the point?

Posted by Parental Alliance for Choice in Education | 07.10.09, 08:08 GMT

Hmmm...it couldn't be that the school/teacher is staging the whole circus in order to cause (dim) parents to put pressure on the DoE, could it?

Posted by CAS | 07.10.09, 05:57 GMT

Why not just do as they did in the 30's and 40's, cut up the local newspaper into squares and use that. Even the paper the letters were written on could be re used as bum wipe.

Posted by Stuart | 06.10.09, 23:05 GMT

I'm going to send the school some toilet paper. Other folks should do the same -- help them out a bit. Dave in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Posted by Dave | 06.10.09, 21:01 GMT

Why not cut back on staff a bit, before the whole stinking education system goes down the drain?

Posted by Hari Seldon | 06.10.09, 19:13 GMT

Would it have been so difficult to include "in County Cork" in the headline so that Messrs B Stevenson and B Citizen don't reveal to all that they didn't bother reading the article?

Mr Stevenson - the possessive is "their". If you must use uppercase try to get it right otherwise you'll draw attention to your ignorance.

Posted by perry | 06.10.09, 17:34 GMT

Why don't they just bring the whole heap, desk and chair and the blackboard.

Posted by s.g | 06.10.09, 16:01 GMT

And what? This is in Cork. It has nothing to do with our MLAs.

Yes it has.

Posted by Jim | 06.10.09, 15:33 GMT

This is a story regarding a school in the Republic of Ireland. Our MLAs are to blame for a lot of things, but toilet roll provision in a school in Co. Cork is not one of them.

Posted by WH | 06.10.09, 14:33 GMT

why stop there ? , why not have them bring their own patty of soap and a cannister of water too and perhaps they could bring chalk as an added

Posted by em | 06.10.09, 14:23 GMT

"but yet MLAs can decorate their offices with pot plants and walnut desks...."

And what? This is in Cork. It has nothing to do with our MLAs.

Posted by Ed | 06.10.09, 14:15 GMT

Sir! Sir!
I have a really good excuse for not handing in my essay.
You see, I needed some paper.

Posted by SIMONDO | 06.10.09, 13:53 GMT

but yet MLAs can decorate their offices with pot plants and walnut desks....

Posted by Belfast Citizen | 06.10.09, 13:18 GMT

I had to check today's date to ensure that it wasn't 1st April!!! For a school in the 21st Century to be unable to provide such a basic as loo roll is pathetic. This story would be more at home in the early 1900's!!

Posted by Liam | 06.10.09, 12:01 GMT