Class sizes will make social distancing difficult says TD

(Above) Deputy Johnny Guirke.

Overcrowded classes will make social distancing difficult for teachers to implement, a local TD has said.

Newly released figures from the Department of Education have revealed that one one school in Westmeath has a class with 45 pupils in it in 2019.

Speaking this week, Meath West TD Johnny Guirke said that large class sizes will put even more pressure on teachers, who will have to implement social distancing measures when schools reopen in a few weeks.

"Overcrowding in classrooms is a major problem for schools in our country with the most average size classes holding 25 students, but this is still too high as the EU average is just 20 students.

"The shocking results from the Department of Education showed that in Meath classrooms, there was up to 37 students in one classroom while Westmeath was the highest figure with up to 45 students in one class. This is alarming figures for 2019 and now teachers will be under even more pressure with social distancing measurements introduced to schools.

"We have the highest-class sizes in Europe and our classroom buildings are not adequate to hold the European average of 20 students, let alone the number of students packed into our schools. One out of 5 schools here have over 30 students in their classes, while in Cork they had 40 students, Wicklow had 39 and Kerry had 38.

"This government should have addressed these problems by reducing class sizes, instead we now have the added worry of social distancing and safety issues in class which is more problematic for teachers too. Sinn Fein’s private members motion calling for reduction of class sizes was voted down by Government and we feel it will be unsafe to return to class for children with over 30 students in a room.

"The government must act now across the country and address the class sizes with immediate effect," he concluded.