The president of the National Parents' Association for Vocational Schools and Community Colleges, Mr Michael O'Regan, has said that, in his opinion, an estimate from last year that about 2,000 pupils were suspended from schools and colleges at any one time was understating the position.
He maintained that the "whole situation was getting out of hand" and that pupils were not being given a proper chance to defend themselves. Procedures were not being adhered to in schools and parents were not being consulted about their children's rights. He also claimed that some pupils were being suspended or expelled without the board of management of the school being informed.
"Some pupils are getting a terrible time and being singled out and victimised, thus forcing them into a situation where they must retaliate against the injustice. The result is suspension or expulsion. We must realise the terrible psychological effect this will have on a student, along with possible suicidal results", Mr O'Regan said.
He was speaking at the annual congress of the association in Carlow.
"Proper procedures must be put in place, in agreement with all partners in education, to deal with this whole area. I call on the Minister to make this one of the main priorities", he said. "No one department, individual or organisation seems to know for sure how many students are on suspension on any one day."
His remarks follow comments in the Dail last month by the Minister for Education and Science, Dr Woods, that the Department of Education did not have an overall figure for the number of pupils on suspension.
Another issue raised by Mr O'Regan was charges levied on some students to do the mock Junior Certificate examination. He claimed that some teachers were sending out mock exam papers to be corrected and students were having to pay £30 to the schools they attended for this service. This charge was in addition to the £50 fee to sit the Junior Certificate and represented a burden on parents.
He added: "This is unfair. Why have teachers done this? We, as parents, were quite happy with the past method. Is it the teachers' way of saying they will not be carrying out any more internal assessments? Is this union policy?"