Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-26-Speech-3-406"
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"en.20070926.24.3-406"2
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"Madam President, in general I am concerned by the uncritical acceptance by the Commission that Member States are cutting funding for education. In Ireland it is particularly glaring, with the growth in our population and, indeed, as a result, overcrowded classrooms. I have long been an advocate of pre-school and primary education as essential for the personal development of every child. All the evidence shows that the better the education, the better one’s life chances are. It is even linked to a longer and healthier life.
I believe the Commission and Member States must put as much emphasis on quality as on efficiency and equity. The quality of the school environment and teaching are prerequisites to efficiency. Children need good teachers with a curriculum that gives a holistic education, one geared to teaching students how to make rational decisions, how to cope with diversity and change, how to communicate with others and, indeed, provide a broad ethical basis for the values they can choose to live their lives by. These are skills they need to make the most of themselves and their society.
But there is even a more urgent and basic issue – that of hungry children in our schools. Thousands of children go to school hungry in Ireland and I am sure we are not unique. It matters not how efficient or equitable the access is, these children cannot do well, and the long-term consequences of that dwarf the savings a state makes by not providing a healthy breakfast for these children."@en1
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