Hanafin vows action to tackle class sizes

AN EXTRA 400 primary teaching posts will be created over the next two years to help reduce class sizes, Education Minister Mary Hanafin promised yesterday.

She will be asking schools to focus on allocating these posts, in addition to 100 already earmarked for disadvantaged schools from early next year, to infant classes where the Government's commitment to reduce sizes to 19 pupils per teacher remains a focus of teacher and parent campaigning.

While the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) said the announcement was a step in the right direction, general secretary John Carr said this alone would not provide the solution to problems faced by overcrowded schools.