Some 18% in classes of more than 30 in Offaly

Only one primary school in Offaly had a class of 35 students or more last year, according to official Department of Education and Skills figures. The new figures also reveal that 18% (just under one in five) of the county's primary school children are being taught in classes of 30 or more. In all, there were 9,160 students in 66 different primary schools in the county on September 30, 2009. The largest primary school in the county was the 540-strong Edenderry Convent NS on St Mary's Road, while the smallest were St Ciaran's NS in Broughal and St Cormac's NS in Kilcormac, both of which had 27 students. The primary teachers' union the INTO said the figures, nationally, showed 106,000 primary pupils were in classes of 30 or more. The union said the figures showed the problem of over-crowded classes in primary schools, already the second highest in the EU, was getting worse. The INTO called on the government to tackle the issue as a matter of priority. General secretary of the INTO Sheila Nunan said the increase in overcrowded classes showed clearly that young children are paying the price of economic mismanagement. "Billions are being found to keep Anglo Irish Bank on a life support machine," Ms Nunan said, "part of which is clearly coming from primary schools." A decade ago government promised to reduce class sizes for the under nines to less than twenty in line with international best practice. According to the figures only 14 percent of primary pupils are in classes of less than twenty pupils. Ms Nunan said there was widespread agreement that younger children do not do as well in over-crowded classes. "When class numbers are reasonable modern teaching methods are possible and there is more teacher time for children."