Vol. 415 No. 3
171 Tomás Mac Giolla asked the Minister for Education if he will give details of the number of teachers currently employed at (a) primary and (b) post-primary level; and if he will outline the effect on these numbers of the most recent Government proposals on education contained in the Programme for Economic and Social Progress for (1) the 1992/93 school year and (2) the 1993/94 school year.
In regard to (a) there are 20,688 teachers employed in national schools at present.
The Government have reached agreement with the social partners, under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress, to reduce the pupil/teacher ratio at primary level to 25.2:1 from September 1992. This will involve the retention of some 300 teaching posts which would otherwise have been lost due to falling enrolments.
The position will be reviewed in relation to 1993/94 in the light of the measures which may be needed to achieve a ratio of 25:1 in that year.
In regard to (b) the expected effect on post-primary teacher number of the current proposals under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress will be to increase the number of incremental salaried teachers, which are present stands at 19,975, by approximately 260 in each of the school years 1992/93 and 1993/94.
