Coalition attacked over size of school classes

THE Government yesterday came under strong attack on the size of primary school classes yesterday.

With the student/teacher ratio at 24.5:1, it is the second highest in Europe, compared with Denmark’s 19 and Italy’s 18.

Fine Gael warned that the country’s future economic competitiveness will be hit unless the Government acts to reduce it, while Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) general secretary John Carr said some of the thousands of children who began school this week would be in classes of 30 or more.