Northern Ireland schools 'cannot provide first aid kits and soap'

Schools in Northern Ireland are struggling to provide basic equipment such as first aid kits, stationery and hand soap, MLAs have been told.

The comments came as representatives from the NI Teaching Council appeared at Stormont's education committee.

Dr Graham Gault, from the National Association of Head Teachers, said it will "take a generation" to solve problems facing the sector.

The Department for Education's budget has been cut by about £70m, or 2.5%.

The new education minister, DUP MLA Paul Givan, has met unions in recent days about a range of issues facing the sector.

But Dr Gault said it was of the "highest urgency" that funding for schools is given priority in the budget the executive will set for 2024-25.

"It cannot be the case that what was expected of schools 13 years ago is expected now - they don't have the resource," he said.

The NAHT's Dr Graham Gault says the matter is urgent

Dr Gault said also some schools are unable to replace out-of-date ICT equipment.

"This is basic stuff, even keeping the lights on, we have to do so much better," he said.

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Mark McTaggart from the Irish National Teachers' Organisation said inflation had not been factored into schools' budgets and that had also presented problems.

"What we need is the budget to reflect needs of schools, not for schools to work to the budget given to them," he added.

MLAs were also updated on the situation about resolving a pay dispute for teachers this year.

The NI Teaching Council said unions had called off any further strikes at this point, in light of money being released by the Stormont Executive last week.

But while negotiations between the unions and employers continue they said they reserved the right to strike if a deal could not be reached.

The committee agreed to write to the minister to ask for a commitment to provide the funding to ensure the dispute can be ended.