Sinn Féin has said it will get rid of the two-tier pay system for newly qualified teachers, if elected to power.

The party has said it will also eliminate third level student fees for PLC and college courses, over the lifetime of a Sinn Féin led government.

As part of its education policies, the party would also undertake a survey of the current school system, to ensure there are enough buildings and teachers to bring the student-teacher ratio from 27-to-1 to 20-to-1.

Education Spokesperson, Jonathan O'Brien has said the party would seek meetings with teachers' unions to bring about a system where all teachers are paid the same: “Newly qualified teachers should be valued the same as any other teacher.

“So we don’t want to see a situation where we have two pay scales, now over the lifetime of a Government obviously we would have to sit down with the unions and discuss that, but our aim at the end of all this would be to have a one pay scale system for all teachers whether they are newly qualified or whether they have been in the system for a few years.

“That’s what we are committing to.”