Warning as 20% of primary pupils in classes of 30-plus

ALMOST one-in-five primary pupils were still in classes of 30 children or more last year, but teachers have warned this could rise significantly if the Government adopts An Bord Snip Nua’s proposals.

Figures for the last school year show that just under 93,000 of the country’s 482,593 primary pupils – or 19.3%, similar to the previous year – were in classes of 30 or more at the end of September 2008. This figure includes 5,338 who were being taught with at least 34 other pupils and four classes in which there were more than 40 children.

Two of these were in one school, Scoil Náisiúnta Naomh Mhuire in Saggart, Co Dublin, which had two classes with 90 pupils between them. The others, which both had one class with 41 pupils, were at Four Masters National School in Kinlough, Co Leitrim, and Scoil Náisiúnta Cillmin, Clonakilty, Co Cork.