Cork schools among the worst for overcrowded classrooms
- Published: 09 October 2008
Kathleen Lynch TD Statement by Kathleen Lynch TD, Spokesperson on Disability Issues and Equality
More than one in four children in schools in Cork County are in classes of thirty or more, making it among the worst areas in the country for overcrowded classrooms.
This must be a cause of acute embarrassment for Education Batt O'Keeffe, himself a local TD.
Nationally, almost 96,000 children are in oversized classrooms, which itself is scandalous, but almost 11,000 are of those are in Cork County area.
It is clear that little or no progress has been made in tackling overcrowding, and that the Govt has failed miserably to honour their repeated commitments to reduce class sizes. Without doubt the problem is particularly acute in County Cork.
In 2002 Fianna Fail promised that to reduce class sizes to below 20:1, but that commitment was subsequently abandoned first by Mary Hanafin and now Batt O'Keeffe.
Educational research has consistently shown that children will benefit, particularly those who are disadvantaged or have learning difficulties, from smaller classes. On the other hand children crammed into overcrowded classes run the risk of suffering from a level of educational disadvantage from which they may never fully recover.
The fact that at a time of economic growth the Govt failed to make significant progress on class sizes is a damning indictment of the record of Fianna Fail. It is simply not acceptable that we should have the second highest average class size in the EU.
