Student numbers to rise four times faster than forecast

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn faces huge pressure on budgets for new teachers and classrooms as student numbers look set to jump up to four times more than previously predicted.

The revised projections, based on Census 2011 figures and the latest migration and birth rate patterns, will put the Government under pressure to further increase class sizes and pupil-teacher ratios to limit the cost implications.

From current primary enrolments of 525,000 children, the Department of Education projected in Jun 2011 that the number would rise by about 15,000 to total 540,000 in the next eight years. Instead, the 2020 figure is estimated at almost 602,000, four times more of an increase than was predicted.