Class sizes set to be an election issue

PARENTS are to be armed with questions in order to pressure election candidates on their commitments to class size improvements as primary teachers step up their campaign on the issue.

A public meeting at a Dublin hotel last night was the first of around 30 such gatherings being organised by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) in its bid to pressure Government for promised reductions in class sizes.

Despite a 2002 Programme for Government commitment to bring class sizes for all under-nines to below 20 children, only 15% of all primary pupils are taught in such conditions. The average primary class size is 24, the EU’s second highest, and Department of Education figures show that 107,639 children — one-in-four pupils — share a classroom with 30 others.