Pupil-teacher ratio, not spending, is what’s zany

EDUCATION MINISTER Batt O’Keeffe has cautioned teachers to fall from the ‘zany heights’ of recent education expenditure.

Zany heights? What batty thinking. The Irish pupil-teacher ratio has been at a ‘zany height’ for decades. Is it not zany that Ireland has much higher numbers of pupils per teacher than more economically disadvantaged countries such as Greece, Portugal and Latvia?

Per capita spending on individual primary schools is still low by international standards, and that’s why the average debt owed by any primary school may be €23,000.