Education Minister Barry Gardiner criticised for cash cuts

Colm Davis, principal of Torbank Special School outside Belfast, accused Minister for Education Barry Gardiner of failing to bail out the board.

The attack came during the annual head teachers' conference in Limavady.

He said lack of resources made it hard for schools to meet children's needs, particularly those with special needs.

The minister was also accused by the chief executive of the body which oversees Catholic schools in Northern Ireland of "destroying the education system".

Donal Flanagan of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools said Mr Gardiner's recent tough stance on budgets would be very destructive.

He said the total list of cutbacks across all five education and library boards showed there would be serious losses to the services pupils and teachers receive.

Board chiefs defended

Mr Flanagan called on head teachers at the conference to join the debate on the review of public administration which would get rid of the five boards and centralise more education services.

Meanwhile two of Northern Ireland's main trade unions, Nipsa and Unison, have come to the defence of board chiefs under pressure about overspending of education budgets.

The unions, which represent the majority of non-teaching staff in the education sector, accused the minister and the Department of Education of using the Jack Report, published last week, to deflect attention from the government's imposition of massive budget cuts in education.

They also claim the minister's statements and the handling of the publication of the Jack Report may have seriously breached the natural justice rights of the board officials.

A joint statement published on Monday called on political representatives, particularly those who are still board members, to accept that public servants at all levels of responsibility have a right to be treated fairly and with respect.

The unions said it was important that the public understood that all alleged overspends were needed to provide education services. Children and the community benefited from the expenditure.