A UNION official says Cumbria's teachers should be applauded for taking industrial action to protect education.

In Cumbria 29 schools were either closed or partially closed today due to a strike by the National Union of Teachers.

The NUT is protesting against funding for schools being cut. It says school budgets are not keeping up with rising costs. The union says this is leading to increased workloads for teachers, bigger class sizes and materials and resources being reduced.

The closed schools in south Cumbria were; Barrow Island Community Primary School; George Romney Junior School, Dalton; Millom Infants School; St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School, Windermere; Thwaites Primary School; and Vickerstown Primary School, Walney.

Partially closed were; Askam Village School; Chetwynde School, Barrow; Dowdales School, Dalton; Ormsgill Nursery and Primary School, Barrow; and Victoria Infant and Nursery School, Barrow.

In its ballot, 91.7 per cent backed a walkout, from a relatively low turnout of 24.5 per cent.

In Cumbria there are more than 3,000 NUT members.

The union has seen more than 6,000 new members join the union nationally in the past fortnight.

Cumbria secretary Chris Brooksbank said some 30 new members have joined in the county in the past two weeks.

Mr Brooskbank, who attended the NUT march in Lancaster, said: "The support has been greater than expected.

"The members who took a stand should be applauded.

"Even those who did not take action, a lot of them agree with what has been said.

"Headteachers are doing an incredibly difficult job trying to manage these budgets.

"The government just don't seem to want to listen."

Mr Brooksbank said Cumbria teachers are also angered by testing issues.

The Department for Education said the strike was "disappointing, "unnecessary" and "damaging," saying it had offered and committed to formal talks between ministers and the unions to address their concerns.

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