At first glance one might wonder why it is necessary to raise in our national parliament the question of the appointment of a single teacher to a school. Unfortunately it is necessary when a situation becomes as serious as the one I am going to outline tonight. I hope the Minister will not regard it as a minor, insignificant issue and that he will focus his attention on it and grant what is an undemanding request which will not bankrupt any budgets but will give great relief to a school that is under great pressure at present.
The CBS secondary school in Wexford has undertaken to admit 110 pupils in September this year. That was agreed by the principal when he understood a pupil-teacher ratio of 19:1 would apply under the terms of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress. On that basis he understood he would have adequate staff to cope with 110 pupils. There are that many clamouring for places in his school. The Minister will know from a previous case I raised a matter of weeks ago that there is no spare capacity in any other school in Wexford; in fact, they are all under severe pressure due thankfully to a growing population in the town. Having agreed to take in 110 children in September, he now finds out that the 19:1 pupil teacher ratio will not happen this year, in fact it is hoped it will happen in the year 1992-93. He is faced with a dilemma. In September 1991, the 1991-92 school year, the school will have at least 490 pupils depending on how many are allowed to do repeats. However let us focus specifically on the intake class. Obviously the intake of 110 pupils will have to be divided into classes of 40, 40 and 30 pupils. The classrooms are relatively modern in the new block and 40 young adolescent pupils are being put into a classroom which is relatively small and cannot cope with 40 pupils. I visited the school and I saw 40 pupils being put into the room. They physically do not fit and the furniture will not fit in, and the school authorities just do not know what they are going to do.
I do not believe that the Minister would accept for a minute that it is good, sound educational policy to begin the crucial stage of secondary education with classes of that size.
The school has a mixed socio-economic intake. Of the 110 pupils, 20 per cent have unemployed fathers. It is a large urban school in the heart of Wexford town. Although it is serving a mixed socio-economic grouping and is a main school in a large town, it is still not large enough to qualify for ex-quota staffing. It does not have any ex-quota guidance teacher, vice-principal or remedial teacher — in fact, it has no remedial teacher at all — to cater for those who are educationally disadvantaged; as I said, 17 of the intake pupils this year fall into that category. What the school is asking for is not great recognition, extra quota teachers or great help but simply to be allowed operate on the principle on which they assumed they would be operating from next September, that the pupil/teacher ratio would be 19:1 which would give them an extra teacher to cope with this intake.
I would mention in passing the condition of the school. I want to singularly underscore that two classrooms are pre-fabs that have been there for a very long time. In fact, I was educated in them a good number of years ago, and they have deteriorated a lot since then. They are now, quite frankly, in a hopeless state of disrepair. There are holes in the floors which are quite dangerous and the fabric of the prefabricated buildings is ridden with wood lice which makes it a very unattractive place in which to teach. When you stamp on the floor you are liable to be showered with lice from the holes in the ceiling. It is a scandal that these buildings should remain as classrooms. There is no cry and no screaming about it, but hopefully, things will improve so far as the fabric of the building is concerned.
The request I have been asked to put before the Minister is an extremely modest and simple one, that the extra teacher who is urgently needed would be provided one year before the appointment is due to come on stream. I would urgently request the Minister to give very sympathetic consideration to this modest and simple demand.
