Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

For south Dublin, the INTO puts the pupil-teacher ratio at 25:1. South Dublin has three RAPID areas which are included in these figures. However in Lucan and Clondalkin, not covered in the RAPID programme, the pupil-teacher ratios are much higher, some as high as 30:1. There are 100,000 primary school students in classes of 30 students or more. That is the pupil-teacher ratio and all the gloss in the Minister's contribution and in the motion before the House does not change it. The pupils, teachers, parents and politicians are aware of the reality that we have the second highest class sizes in the EU.

Members have referred to the Government's commitment to reduce the pupil teacher ratio for children under nine years of age to 20:1 in its programme for Government. There has been no reduction in the ratio in the past four years according to INTO figures. How will the Government deliver on its commitment in the next two years? That is the reason Senator O'Toole and the Labour Party, in a recent motion in the Dáil, sought a schedule from the Government outlining how and when it will deliver on its commitment.

Another issue raised at local meetings is the inflexibility of pupil teacher ratios. Sometimes the number of pupils in a school will drop from year to year and, although that does not reflect what the position will be in the long term, the school loses a teacher. This issue must be addressed.

Educational disadvantage is another important issue. Labour Party statistics show that between 800 and 1,000 children each year do not transfer from primary to second level school, 4% of students leave school before the junior certificate examination and 18.4% of students leave school before the leaving certificate examination. Recent reports on literacy in schools indicate that up to 50% of students in some schools experience difficulties with reading, writing and numeracy. According to another report, 30% of pupils in disadvantaged schools in Ireland experience these problems.

Class sizes are an important aspect of dealing with educational disadvantage. More must be done in this regard. The Government has done nothing about pre-school education. Research indicates that pre-school education can deliver major improvements in tackling educational disadvantage. The recent OECD report referred to the Government's failure to do anything about providing pre-school education. The Labour Party believes that every child of three years of age should be guaranteed one year of pre-school education. What are the Minister's proposals in that regard?

Similarly, the Labour Party has proposals to extend programmes for targeting educational disadvantage. There has been no expansion of initiatives such as the Breaking the Cycle and Early Start programmes introduced by the former Minister for Education, former Labour Party Deputy, Niamh Bhreathnach, to tackle disadvantage. These programmes have been commended on their success to date. They must be expanded and the Labour Party has proposals for doing that.

Far more must be done by the Government on the issue of literacy. The Labour Party believes there should be regular measurements of students with literacy problems and funding should be provided for that purpose. Much work has been done on the pupil teacher ratio in schools in disadvantaged areas but more must be done. The Labour Party believes the pupil teacher ratio in disadvantaged schools should be 15:1 and it should be 20:1 in other schools. However, many schools that have or are near that ratio are experiencing many other problems as a result of the Government's policies. I am aware of parents who are obliged to give money to the school each week to cover heating and lighting expenses. That is not good enough.

In areas that are not designated as disadvantaged, schools face other challenges which have not been addressed sufficiently by the Government. There are many such schools in the area I represent, Lucan and Clondalkin. These schools have pupil teacher ratios of between 28:1 and 30:1. They also have large numbers of children of non-national parents who need special attention due to language difficulties and so forth. These schools need smaller pupil teacher ratios and more resources to deal with those issues.

The Labour Party does not believe a review of the weighting system for dealing with special educational needs is sufficient; the system should be scrapped. This policy will be detrimental for pupils and will result in many students losing out.