Check out Jane's speech from the #EducationIs demo.
A cháirde,My name is Jane Hayes Nally.I am a 17 Year old student in St Mary's High School. I am in 5th year at the minute and I am also the president of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. We represent the second-level students in Ireland and we believe in an education system without barriers. I want to study science when I finish school. I want to go to college and I want to make my contribution to the social, cultural and economic growth of the Irish society. I want a future. I want the chance to stay in Ireland and to study in Ireland. I, and many of my fellow students are marching on this day because we need to be heard. We are telling this country that we need publicly funded education in order for us to have this opportunity. We need publicly funded education so that we get a chance to study, to better ourselves and to become qualified. But we are not alone however and we are not just students marching here today. We are among our parents, our teachers and our future lecturers. We are with members of national unions, organisations and charities. We are among people that believe in the same right to education as we do. Education Is: A human right and education is my right.Education Is: My opportunity to create, to succeed, to achieve.Education is the essential exchange of information from teacher to classroom, lecturer to laboratory, author to readership, and speaker to the world.Education Is the remembrance of history to prevent its disasters repeating itself. It's is the comprehension of science in order to react with our environment peacefully, and to further discover our universe.Education Is the art of the world’s languages, the successful communication between two people, and the appreciation of the way words can change the world.Education Is the promotion of mathematics and logic, the engine behind advancements in technology and computers, and the reason why we are edging closer to a world where 6.8 billion people could all be connected online.Education Is debate, discussion, dispute. It is an opportunity to open one’s mind, to consider ideas you could not have imagined.There is no justification for a scheme which will limit the access of Irish people to education. There is no justification for burdening our students with debts when we are in a position to fund these opportunities, just like the Cassells report deemed viable. Let us not make education exclusive to the students who can afford to fund it privately, and forcing those who must take out loans to pay more for education, | as will happen when loan payments and interest are combined. Let us not deplete the number of mature and part-time students who study in our colleges, as has been experienced in Australia and the UK. Let us open education up to all, make it equal, inclusive, and accessible.And Today we're saying: Listen US!And listen loud and clear, because we’re saying No to student debt.No to an unsustainable loan scheme.We are saying No to an unequal education system.We are saying No to limiting access to education.We are saying NO to denying me MY future! To depriving me of the opportunity to enter third level education. ME and many of my fellow students.It comes down to a choice.We have a choice in what kind of Ireland will exist in the future.By improving Irish education today, we can improve the Ireland of tomorrow.End.
ISSU standing with LGBT students
The ISSU will be attending the Dublin Pride parade on June 28th. ISSU Equality Officer Alex Fogarty said; "Get behind all LGBT students in Ireland on June 28th by joining the ISSU at the Dublin LGBT Pride parade. This is a great opportunity to show solidarity with LGBT students from across Ireland."[youtube link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha4hFgHICDU"]For more info email campaigns@issu.ie
CSPE Action Project Initiative : Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights in Ireland
IHRC invites CSPE students to submit human rights and equality images for national exhibition
Ensuring that everyone can live "equal in dignity and rights" is at the heart of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Young people can play an active role in making this principle a reality and in doing so help build a culture of respect for human rights and equality in Irish society. The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) is inviting CSPE students to promote human rights and equality in Ireland through images, words and action. We are asking you to use your CSPE Action Project to demonstrate what human rights and equality mean to you and to display your work in your school or community for others to see, and at Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights and Equality in Ireland, a national exhibition organised by the IHRC at the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield Dublin 7 from 25 March to 4 April 2014. The Express Yourself! initiative is being organised by the IHRC in collaboration with the Association of CSPE Teachers (ACT); Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU); the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST); and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD). See last year’s exhibition and find out more about human rights and equality in Ireland at www.ihrc.ie/cspe. Closing date for entries is 29 January 2014. For further information please contact Fidelma Joyce at the IHRC. Tel: 01 8589601 or email: expressyourself@ihrc.ie 
New Junior Cycle Puts Students at its Heart
ISSU welcomes details of Junior Cycle reform
The Irish Second-level Students’ Union (ISSU) warmly welcomes the details of Junior Cycle Reform which Minister Ruairi Quinn has announced today. The changes which have been announced today will put the student at the centre of their own education, and go a long way to ensuring that learning outcomes rather than exam performance are the main focus of junior cycle education in Ireland for years to come. The presence of English, Irish, Maths and Science as standardised tests will ensure that at it's core, the new Junior Cycle will preserve academic integrity, and it provides a clear statement on the importance of science in addition to the traditional core subjects of English, Irish and Maths. ISSU Education Officer, Brendan Power said: “The new Junior Cycle has the capacity to revolutionise the educational experience of future second-level students in Ireland. I firmly believe that the new Junior Cycle will result in a more practical and functional education for students and prepare them for life and future education, rather than train them for exams”.
CSPE Action Project Initiative
Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights in Ireland
IHRC invites CSPE students to submit human rights images for national exhibition
Ensuring that everyone everywhere, including Ireland, can live "equal in dignity and rights" is at the heart of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Young people can play an active role in making this principle a reality and in so doing help build a culture of respect for human rights in Irish society. Education is an empowering factor and Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) aims to foster a spirit of active citizenship based on human rights; nurturing knowledge, skills and agency. The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) is inviting CSPE students to make the human rights of people in Ireland the focus of their CSPE Action Project. We are asking them to play a prominent role in promoting human rights by creating images that express what human rights in Ireland mean to them for display in their schools or community, and at Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights in Ireland, a national exhibition organised by the IHRC at the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield Dublin 7 from 27 February to 6 March 2013. The Express Yourself! initiative is being organised by the IHRC in collaboration with the Association of CSPE Teachers (ACT); Irish Second-Level Students’ Union (ISSU); the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST); and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD). Aims of Express Yourself! The IHRC was established in 2000 under statute to promote and protect human rights in Ireland. A key aspect of our work is to support education that strengthens human rights as knowing about human rights is the first step towards protecting them. Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights in Ireland aims to foster in CSPE students a greater understanding of human rights, empathy with people whose human rights are not being met and encouragement to promote awareness of the importance of protecting human rights in Ireland. Producing and exhibiting human rights images developed as part of such a collaborative process as the CSPE Action Project will also give concrete expression and validation to students’ concerns about human rights and what actions we as a society need to take to secure everyone’s rights. Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights is a follow-on to Human Rights Framed by Young People Exhibition organized by the IHRC with the Law Society of Ireland in 2008 to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Express Yourself! on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2012 Every year on International Human Rights Day, 10 December, people everywhere are asked to come together to celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). As part of the Express Yourself! initiative, the IHRC is encouraging students to organise an event in their school or community to display their images and promote human rights and the enduring relevance of the UDHR more than 60 years after its adoption by the United Nations.Express Yourself! Exhibition Human Rights images produced by CSPE students will be displayed at the Express Yourself!, national exhibition at the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin 7. The closing date to submit images is Wednesday, 16 January 2013. The Exhibition will officially open on 27 February 2013 and the images will be on show until 6 March. Application details are available on the IHRC’s website www.ihrc.ie/cspe Express Yourself! Resources and Support The IHRC is offering a range of supports to aid both teachers and students. 6-Step Guides for Teachers and Students to Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights in Ireland are being sent to CSPE Co-ordinators in all schools. The Guide is designed as a complement to CSPE textbooks and CSPE Action Project resources produced by other organisations. A similar guide is available for CSPE students. A section of the IHRC website is dedicated to Express Yourself! containing a range of human rights resources and information for both teachers and students. See www.ihrc.ie/cspe
For further information on Express Yourself! Young People Promoting Human Rights in Ireland, please contact Fidelma Joyce at the IHRC. Tel: 01 8589601 or email: expressyourself@ihrc.ie
President Higgins invites young people to offer their Vision for Ireland
The President of Ireland wants to hear your visionPresident Higgins invites young people to offer their vision for Ireland
President Higgins is inviting young Irish people to make multimedia submissions on their vision for Ireland to his Being Young and Irish consultation and seminar. Being Young and Irish is the first in a series of Presidency Seminars.Young people aged 17 to 26 years can use whatever media suits them best to put forward their vision for Ireland. Examples include narrative, song, poetry, video or audio recordings. In their submission to www.president.ie or via post to Áras an Uachtaráin young Irish people at home and abroad should address the following questions:· What is your vision for Ireland? · What can you and other young people do to achieve this? · What else needs to happen to make your proposals possible? The deadline for submissions to the multimedia consultation for Being Young and Irish is 29 September 2012. Find out how to make a submission here (http://www.president.ie/