The average amount of students in primary school class rooms across the country has reached its lowest level in 20 years.
A report in this morning’s Irish Independent shows a breakdown of the county-by-county figures in terms of average class size.
The analysis shows that there were 4,000 fewer pupils in first-level education last year, however almost one in 10 remain in oversized classes of 30 or more.
Looking on the national scale, the largest average class size can be found in Kildare with 24 pupils per class, while the lowest average is in Longford schools with 20.9 pupils.
Primary school class rooms across Mayo have the lowest average amount of students across Connacht, with 21.1 in each class. This is also the second lowest figure nationally behind Longford.
Roscommon’s average is slightly ahead with 21.2 students per room, while Galway and Sligo are further up the list with 21.9 and 22 respectively.
Leitrim has the largest average amount of children per class with 23 – the only county in the study outside of Leinster that has an average of 23 or more.
Over one in four children in Mayo are in a class of 20 students or less (25.6%), while under one in ten are in a class of 30 or more (9.8%).
Schools across the country are reopening this week for the start of the new term, and despite declining pupil numbers the teacher shortage has reached ‘crisis point’, according to the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation.
The INTO say that a severe crisis is threatening the future of primary and special education, and is calling on the Government to arrange an emergency meeting of stakeholders to provide solutions to the ‘unbearable burden’ that this has placed on school principals.
Speaking to Midwest Radio’s Tommy Marren this morning, INTO President Carmel Brown said that while the organisation see the current situation as a crisis, the Government do not echo their concerns:
