Stop Increasing Primary Class Sizes, give our kids a fair chance.

“While in opposition, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn described the last government's attempt to increase class sizes as "an attack upon our children, the most vulnerable in our society". In October 2008, he said that pushing many shy, insecure four-year-old children into classes with more than 30 others made it impossible for under-resourced primary school teachers to cherish all the children equally. But as he prepares for the December Budget, Mr Quinn has put an increase in the pupil-teacher ratio on the table for next year, as a way of saving money in order to meet the terms of the EU/IMF bailout.” - Irish Independent 26/09/2011 http://www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/class-sizes-second-largest-in-eu-2887240.html According to a press release on 26/09/11 from the Irish National Teachers Orgnaisation (INTO), http://www.into.ie/ROI/NewsEvents/PressReleases/Title,20484,en.php, 85% of primary pupils in Ireland are in classes greater than the EU average. Sheila Nunan General Secretary of the INTO has described this practice in a plain language, that the Minister cannot ignore, “Most children in primary school this year were not even born when the seeds of economic mismanagement were sown,” she said. “They should not be expected to pay the price of keeping banks on life support machines.” Having seen how such measures will have a negative impact on my child, and other children around this country, I ask that you sign this petition, to show the government that inherited this financial crisis that we cannot jeopardise our children’s futures and condemn them to a life of servitude to correct a mistake by people they will never meet. If the EU is to be a fair and transparent organisation, children in Dusseldorf and Dublin should have the same opportunities and start in life as the children in Cologne and Cork. Enda Kenny should push back on the EU, and stand firm on this belief, having a teaching background himself, he should know the difficulties it will cause to force austerity on our children. Mr. Quinn should not impose a life sentence on our children to bail out bankers and developers just to pay Europe back for the greed of a few people. Please sign this and pass it on to as many people as soon as you can, the more signatures on this, the more the government can use this this to fight our corner in Europe. Decreasing the quality of our children’s education is on the agenda for the next budget. If you would like to address Mr. Kenny or Mr. Quinn personally you can send them an email; taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie; minister@education.gov.ie.