Two major reports which have been published in recent months have clearly indicated our indifference to the educational needs of our disadvantaged citizens.
The first, the report of the Action Group on Access to Third Level Education, highlighted many of the difficulties faced by the financially disadvantaged in their attempts to pursue tertiary education.
The Minister, Dr Woods, has stated that he intends to increase maintenance grants to disadvantaged students. While this is laudable, it is little more than a sticking-plaster response to a case which requires major surgical intervention.
The second report, the United Nations Development Programme for 2001, clearly indicated the extent of educational inequity in Ireland. It shows that if wealth was measured solely by financial indicators such as per-capita income or GDP, Ireland would be in the world's top 10 countries.
However, because of massive societal inequalities, which include lack of educational resources, access to education and widespread functional illiteracy, we have fallen to 18th place on the human development index.
Disparity in educational levels and attainment are much greater than in other developed countries. This is a glaring indictment of the education policies which have been pursued in recent years and is a further indication that we are more inclined to take our social values from Boston than from Berlin.
Educational disadvantage is arguably the most important and persistent problem in the system and it continues to be far from resolved. Educational disadvantage is, by and large, the phenomenon of children from poor backgrounds doing poorly at school.
This socioeconomic group tends to under-perform significantly, leave school early and without qualifications and subsequently go on into low-wage employment. Cultural reproduction of disadvantage becomes most evident when these individuals go on to have children of their own and the same pattern can be seen to be repeated.
The National Economic and Social Council recently estimated that about 16 per cent of the school-going population here is educationally disadvantaged, representing approximately 132,000 children.
This has far-reaching consequences and is intrinsically linked to social exclusion. It has a significant correlation with high crime rates, drug and alcohol abuse, low employment, high social-welfare dependency and the creation of an underclass. Educational disadvantage is an extremely serious problem as the gulf between those in the top 10 per cent and those in the bottom 10 per cent of income widens. Unless our education system is specifically tailored to equalise education outcomes for all children, that gulf is likely to persist and become more entrenched. In terms of needs and rights, it is obvious that the objective of the right to equality of outcome from education is a long way from being realised.
Many people have become considerably richer, especially in the last 10 years. For middle-class children, reading, writing and foundation maths generally tend not to pose problems. Because of their grasp of these basic tools of learning, they can go on to enjoy the opportunities offered by our education system to third-level and beyond.
In poorer families, shocking numbers of children significantly under-perform compared to their more privileged peers. This gap in education attainment, between the haves and the have-nots, should be the primary focus of policy.
Educational disadvantage does not happen by chance. Families of educationally disadvantaged children tend to share common characteristics - parents generally have left school early. They have probably been failed by an outmoded education system which until recently was not remotely child-centred.
These parents are usually employed in low-wage jobs or dependent on social welfare. Their literacy and numeracy skills may be quite poor, so the potential for their children to have grasped the basics of reading and numbers before coming to school is low.
Ordinarily, books and learning resources such as crayons are not readily available to these children. Teachers in disadvantaged areas remark that incoming junior infants don't seem to have heard of common nursery rhymes or fairy tales. Many children of poor families arrive at school completely unprepared, without schoolbags, pencils or books and sometimes undernourished.
Middle-class parents tend to be educated, often professional with ample ability to encourage early interest in reading, writing and numbers. They generally appreciate the value of pre-school education and have the money to pay for it. They see themselves on a par with teachers and have no problem providing their children with all the essentials for starting school.
It is quite clear that by the time children start school significant gaps are already evident.
Striving to achieve equality of education outcome for all children would bring incalculable benefits to society and our economy. Such a policy would make significant inroads into tackling social exclusion and would uphold the principles of justice and equality.
Investment in a radical plan to level the playing pitch for educational under-achievers would seem a small price to pay, but despite that the State spends an average of £50,000 for each student who completes third-level education but just £24,000 on someone who leaves school at 16.
A prison place costs approximately £60,000 a year.
There are many sound economic reasons for tackling educational disadvantage. Recent experience has shown that educational qualifications are a passport to economic success. Education and training have been shown to make workers more productive and increase their living standards.
It would be possible to overcome many of the current labour-market shortages. Overall, this would lead to reduced welfare payments and increased tax revenue from higher paying jobs.
It is important to note that rates of return on investment in education decrease as you move up the education scale. For example, there is a greater return from increasing spending on primary school children than increasing spending on third-level students.
Despite this, Ireland spends much less than the EU average on each primary and secondary student and more than the EU average on each third-level student. This indicates a gross imbalance.
By the time students reach third level stage, the effects of educational disadvantage are deep-rooted and exceptionally difficult to overcome. Quite clearly, targeted and deep intervention at the earliest possible level maximises the possibility of reducing the incidence of educational disadvantage.
It is for this reason that we must move radically beyond the current piecemeal and fragmented approach to the problem of educational under-representation and under-achievement of children from low-income backgrounds. While many good ideas have been piloted, they are limited in scope and the funding provided has not been sufficient to carry them out to their optimal end. There is no coherence in the approach and no targets have been set.
The right of the child to equality of outcome must become the basis for policy-making. A quality free pre-school service must be available to all children to intercept disadvantage at the earliest possible opportunity. Parents must be supported in improving their literacy and numeracy skills and encouraged to be actively involved in their children's education. The successful Breaking the Cycle scheme needs to be extended to all schools in disadvantaged areas and remedial and psychological services need to be greatly enhanced.
In addition, the terms of the clothing and footwear allowance and the free schoolbooks scheme need to be increased and widened to reflect the real burdens which these costs impose on families.
We have the resources. All we need is the resolve.
Roisin Shortall is the Labour Party spokeswoman on education.