UNIONS and employers remain poles apart in a pay dispute, the education minister has said, as teachers gear up for a third strike day.
The NASUWT, the largest teachers' union in Northern Ireland, is to stage another day of rolling strike action on January 31.
Schools across Derry City and Strabane, Mid Ulster, and Fermanagh and Omagh council areas will be affected.
It follows a strike involving schools throughout Belfast and Newtownabbey last November, and a half-day stoppage by members of the INTO union across the north earlier this month.
All main teaching unions have rejected a pay offer that would see staff receive no across the board pay rise for 2015/16, and a 1 per cent cost of living uplift for 2016/17.
The Education Authority held fresh talks with unions this week.
Education minister Peter Weir yesterday told a Stormont committee that discussions would continue but added that "there's quite a distance to go to closing the gap" between employers' and unions positions.
Mr Weir has already told unions their action is futile and there is no more money available.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said it was with deep regret that her union found itself facing another strike.
"We have been left with no choice. We have continued to make clear to the minister that strike action can be avoided if there is an improvement on the 0 per cent pay award for 2015/16 and a genuine commitment to meet with the NASUWT to seek to resolve our trade dispute," she said.
"If the next phase of strike action goes ahead, it will be the responsibility of the ministers and the employers."
Meanwhile, Mr Weir yesterday announced that work costing more than £10m will begin at four post-primary schools under the School Enhancement Programme.
Improvement schemes at St Malachy's College, Belfast, Our Lady's Grammar School, Newry, St Michael's College, Enniskillen and Slemish Integrated College, Ballymena have been given approval to move to the construction phase.
The outgoing DUP minister also invited others to apply for funding. The programme will target schools which have immediate and pressing needs but where new builds are not deemed affordable or deliverable within the budget available.
Schools can apply for a project costing between £0.5m up to £4m.
