LEIXLIP, 6 August 2002: by Bill Trapman. Increased class sizes at Scoil San Carlo in Leixlip have drawn the ire of local Labour deputy Emmet Stagg.
He recently complained to the minister for edication when it became clear that class sizes for third year in the school would reach 34-36 pupils, against a permitted maximum of 30. The second year classes now moving into third year had been used to numbers closer to 25.
But the minister’s reply to Deputy Stagg said the teacher complement allowed related to enrolment on the beginning of the previous year, and that was 331 pupils.
It would need to be 354 pupils before an extra teacher could be sanctioned.
Deputy Stagg said the school will be just three pupils short for an extra teacher when it opens this September, and four classes will have to be merged into three, making class sizes in the affected year unacceptable.
He called for more flexibility in the educational system to allow dealing with such problems as they arise instead of applying the principle of ‘guidelines are law’.
