Savage says “You’re missing the Point”
Upper Bann Ulster Unionist Assembly Member George Savage MLA today spoke out in support of classroom assistants in Upper Bann. Speaking after visiting a few local schools and speaking to several classroom assistants, George said:
“I pledge my full and unequivocal support for classroom assistants. The Education Boards and the Department of Education have let them down badly. This issue should have been resolved long before now. The Boards should readily agree to make the required additional payments as they know that that as the education system has evolved over the years, so has the importance of the role of Classroom Assistant. Classroom Assistants are a vital link in the education chain and as such they deserve to be valued and thus fairly paid for their efforts.”
The cost of making the additional payments to the 7000+ Classroom Assistants is small compared to the vast budgets of the 5 Boards which currently stands at over £1Billion.
In light of this, surely the Boards have the funds available to meet the needs of the Classroom Assistants. In fact if look at the money the Boards have wasted since the decision to have a single education authority (ESA) then the funding is most definitely there: