Primary School Curriculum Threatened By Overcrowding

More than 1,000 people last night heard a call to tackle the woes of primary school education.

The boss of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) John Carr, told a meeting on what is alleged to be chronic underinvestment in primary schools that 86% of pupils in south Dublin are in classes bigger than promised six years ago.

The union General Secretary said most parents, having paid taxes, were then asked to pay the same amount as the Government to their child's school, to keep it running.

INTO President Declan Kelleher also addressed the meeting and said that new research evidence from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment shows the highly detrimental effects of large class sizes on the implementation of the primary curriculum.

"The fact is that the primary curriculum is now floundering because of overcrowded classes."

The meeting was called by INTO to highlight key funding concerns in primary education in advance of the budget.

"Despite a huge increase in population in south Dublin, not one new school building has been completed in the last 20 years," Mr Carr said. "Not one school in south Dublin has enough funding for school computers."

He told the meeting that children cannot be prepared for a world dominated by science and technology if they cannot experiment in classrooms and learn science because there are too many pupils in the classroom.

"The scientists of tomorrow need more than book learning today," he said.

(BMcC)