asked the Minister for Education if he will state under what circumstances a pupil in (1) secondary (2) vocational (3) community and (4) comprehensive school may be suspended from attending classes by the manager of the school and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pupils' Suspension.
3.
Questions of discipline in the schools in question are ordinarily matters for the management authorities of the individual school concerned.
Would the Minister not agree that it is important that pupils be given every opportunity to attend the courses? Is he aware of a case recently where a pupil apparently wore a certain mode of dress outside school hours and outside school itself and was suspended? Does the Minister agree that that trangresses the responsibility of the school authority and does he agree that the children have rights too?
I agree that children have rights and so have their parents. In respect of the case to which the Deputy referred I recollect having seen in the paper that neither the student in question nor the parents were disposed to make any comment. That is only by the way. I think the Deputy will accept that, in times when we are talking of democratisation in education the same as elsewhere, it would not be a desirable situation for the Department to indicate to boards of management how schools should be run but rather that the local board of management would have its own autonomy as far as possible in the management of schools.
Can the Minister tell the House whether it is permissible for schools to continue to collect capitation fees for pupils who have been suspended and for whom they are not supplying any service?
That is a separate question.