Children can no longer be taught in crowded classrooms: FG candidate

Teacher candidate Catherine Yore, running for Fine Gael in the Kells Electoral Area, said she has grave concerns over the recent supplementary budget cuts in education that will ultimately have a further negative effects on class sizes in Meath. 'Ireland"s position as having the second highest primary school class sizes in Europe must be reversed as a matter of urgency if we are to have serious aspirations of reversing the recent economic downturn in the long term,' she declared. 'The simple matter is that our children are our future. In 2002, we were promised that all children under nine years of age would be in classrooms with 20 students or less. This promise was never kept. Currently, there is an estimated 200,000 children under nine in a class of 20 or more, according to the INTO,' said Ms Yore. The FG candidate, herself a primary school teacher, has a class of 32 students and says she knows first-hand the challenges that are faced in Ireland"s schools. 'The revised primary school curriculum is close to being abandoned as it can not be taught in overcrowded classrooms. One simply cannot implement a child-centred, highly individualised and group-focused curriculum where there are grossly overcrowded classrooms. 'Many schools will now have to revert to the "80s and early "90s situation. Our children are individuals but Government only recognise them as numbers and statistics. Our children deserve every possible chance in life they can get, especially when it comes to their education.' She said that even in the tough current economic climate we face, our children"s education must be protected. The cuts to the education budget and the resulting increase in school class sizes are mean-spirited and unjustifiable, she said. Party colleague in Ratoath, Regina Doherty, has welcomed what she terms Education Minister Batt O"Keeffe"s 'u-turn" on school prefabs after he announced plans to engage directly with prefab suppliers on rental costs. 'For the past 12 months, Fine Gael has demanded that Minister O"Keeffe should introduce a rent cap on prefabs and renegotiate the contract for temporary accommodation on behalf of thousands of schools,' she said. 'I recently highlighted the extraordinary rental charge for prefabs paid on an annual basis by the Department of Education.' Ms Doherty continued: 'Information obtained by our spokesman on education, Brian Hayes, in the Dáil revealed that 210 schools have annual prefab rental costs of over €100,000, while a further 184 schools pay €50,000. 'The minister has now seen sense in the argument we have been making. This is an extraordinary admission given that he has allowed extortionate rents to be paid to these suppliers for far too long.' Meanwhile, Labour local election candidate for the Dunshaughlin electoral area, Michael McLoughlin, has called for a much greater debate and more transparency in relation to proposed private sector involvement in schools in Meath. Mr McLoughlin was reacting to plans to develop contracts for the running of services in schools in County Meath to a private sector company as part of the Department of Education"s programme in this area. He has expressed reservations about applying a public private partnership model to education in the county as this has led to problems in the UK and is an approach that has been criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Three consortia have been shortlisted for the contract which will include Athboy Community College.