The recent report of the National Competitiveness Council makes a number of important recommendations in relation to key elements of the education system in Ireland. These recommendations will be of benefit to policy makers and specialists in the education sector and will be carefully considered within my Department.
I am committed to improving the funding position of primary and secondary schools in the light of available resources.
Significant improvements in the levels of direct funding of schools have been made in recent years.
The standard rate of capitation grant for primary schools has been increased from €57 in 1997 to €121.58 per pupil from 1 January last, an increase of almost 113%.
In the case of secondary schools, the standard per capita grant now amounts to €274 from 1 January last as against the rate of €224.74 that applied in 1997. In the case of disadvantaged schools this increase has brought the total per capita grant to €312.
In addition, the support grant that was introduced under the school services support initiative was also increased from 1 January last and now stands at €131 per pupil. This increase is in addition to the range of equalisation grants of up to €15,554 per school per annum that was approved in December 2001.
Further increases in the levels of direct funding payable to first and second level schools will be considered as part of the normal Estimates process.