asked the Minister for Education if he will give the latest available estimate of the number of pupils in primary schools who attained the age of 14 years and who had not (a) completed standard v, (b) completed standard vi, or (c) passed the primary certificate examination.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Primary School Pupils.
91.
Mr. O'Malley
The number of pupils in primary schools on 1st February, 1965, who had attained the age of 14 years and who had not completed (a) standard v and (b) standard vi, was 821 and 2,873 respectively.
Candidates for the primary certificate examination are not classified by age, the sole requirement being that they must have completed sixth standard in a national school.
Would the Minister agree that in regard to these schools, it is not a true statement inasmuch as all pupils who would be attending school up to the age of 14 are not included in the primary schools?
Mr. O'Malley
I was asked to give an estimate of the number of pupils in the primary schools. Those are the figures I have given. Deputy Jones suggested there would be others of this age and that would be correct.
There would be a pretty large number of pre-secondary?
Mr. O'Malley
The Deputy is referring to secondary tops?
Yes, and pre-secondary.
Mr. O'Malley
The total number in secondary tops would be of the order of 8,000.