asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the offence being caused to members of the teaching profession and others involved in the supervising and running of the 1988 certificate examinations by the inclusion of paragraph 3.2 in the general instructions for superintendents, which states that the subsistence allowance payable is not intended to meet the whole cost of subsistence when absent from home and headquarters and is not intended to be a source of emolument or profit; and if she will take steps to ensure that the paragraph, which many teachers see as a gratuitous insult, will be withdrawn.
Written Answers. - Certificate Examination Superintendents.
221.
The words referred to are taken directly from Circular No. 11/82 of the Department of Finance which lays down the regulations governing travelling and subsistence expenses in the public service generally. They were included for the guidance of those appointed to act as superintendents/examiners at the certificate examinations so as to avoid unnecessary queries and delays in the processing of claims for payment later on.
222.
asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to the major changes in the pattern of the placing of superintendents for the 1988 certificate examinations from the previous year as a result of which many of the teachers in County Roscommon have been assigned to centres far removed from their home bases and in some other counties, some superintendents have been assigned to areas so close to their homes that there is every probability that they will know the pupils sitting the examinations; and if she will make a statement on the matter outlining the principles and practices involved in the assignation of superintendents to centres.
It was decided this year that in the interests of containing the travel and subsistence costs of running the examinations superintendents of intermediate certificate examination centres would, where practicable, be selected from eligible locally-based applicants and that the remainder would be selected and assigned as heretofore.
The number of superintendents from western counties has always exceeded the number of centres in those counties and surplus superintendents from those counties have traditionally been assigned to centres in other counties. The new arrangements made this year have meant that some of the surplus superintendents from the western counties have had to be assigned farther than usual from their homes.