Labour slams Govt U-turn on class sizes

The Labour party has slammed the Minister for Education's admission that the Government will not be fully honouring its commitment on reducing primary school class sizes.

Mary Hanafin said yesterday that the promise to reduce class sizes for schoolchildren under the age of nine to a maximum of 20 by 2007 would not be honoured because it would require the Government to hire 2,500 extra teachers.