Overcrowded
IN 2010, ALMOST 4,000 CHILDREN IN LOUTH ARE BEING TAUGHT IN A CLASS WITH 30 PUPILS OR MORE
Philip Ward, principal of Scoil Mhuire Fatima in Drogheda, is hopeful that the new school will get under way before the end of 2010.
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ALMOST 4,000 children in Louth are being educated in classes with 30 or more pupils.
Figures released by the Department of Education show out of 15,232 pupils who attend primary school across the county, almost a third are being educated in groups of up to 34 students.
The statistic is similar in Drogheda, where there are over 6,000 pupils attending local primary schools, and 30% of the classes are in the 30-34 pupil bracket.
The figures relate to last year's classes, and one school which was suffering from overcrowding in 2009, has thankfully had the pressure eased.
Scoil Mhuire Fatima on the Dublin Road, saw over half of its pupils crammed into classrooms of up to 34 students, after losing a teacher in government cuts.
' That situation has eased considerably now that the department has reversed the decision on the teacher/ratio position, and we have gained a teacher back this year,' says Fatima principal Philip Ward.
' We are hopeful that our new school will get under way before the end of this year, and the tender applications are all currently with the department for review.'
Local politicians have said the latest figures are evidence that Fianna Fail and the Greens are wrecking education system as well as the economy.
'This revelation highlights the damaging impacts cutbacks are having in our primary schools,' said Labour party Cllr Gerald Nash.
'15,000 additional students nationally are attending primary school in our overcrowded and under-funded education system since last year's survey was published, and this is real evidence that Fianna Fáil has not only wrecked the economy, they are seriously damaging our education system too.'
'The situation is even more shocking when consideration is given to the fact that our children are being deprived of teachers and resources so that billions can be ploughed in to zombie banks like Anglo,' says Fine Gael's Louth TD and Spokesperson on Education, Fergus O'Dowd TD.
'In Louth, 3,819 students are in classes of 30 or more and 317 are in classes with 35-39 children.
'This is despite repeated Fianna Fáil election pledges that no child under the age of nine would be educated in a class of more than 20 students.'
- Alison COMYN
