Kerry primary and special schools deserve better from the government, according to a teachers' union.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) is the trade union for teachers and principals in primary and special schools across the island of Ireland.
It has published a pre-budget submission, calling for investment to support recovery from a difficult year, and to improve educational outcomes.
The INTO says it has set out the deficiencies in the Irish primary school system in a series of meetings with all political parties recently, which it says need to be tackled in the forthcoming budget.
The union says too many pupils in Kerry still learn in a classroom of 30 or more pupils, with one in five pupils nationally learning in such an environment.
The INTO claims primary schools in Kerry still have to fundraise to cover basic expenses like lighting, heating and insurance, which it says is not good enough in 2021.
The union is calling for the government to invest in primary and special schools, and to address what it says is a grossly unfair funding disparity between primary and post-primary institutions.
It says every Kerry child should be taught by a qualified teacher, which can be achieved by maintaining substitute supply panels which were introduced by government during the pandemic.
The INTO is also calling for the restoration of assistant principal posts and a weekly release day for teaching principals to be maintained in the coming years.
