Government criticised over class sizes

According to the Department figures, the ratio of pupils in classes of more than 30 decreased from 25% to 20% between 2006 and 2007.

INTO General Secretary John Carr, said the small decrease was a very weak attempt by the Government to cover up its failure to reduce class sizes for young children to less than 20 as promised.

In response, the Department of Education said it had significantly reduced the pupil-teacher ratio, but it could not do so this year because of financial constraints.

Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said that class size is also a matter for the management of individual schools.