Minister slams Labour's reception class proposal

A Labour Party proposal to introduce a reception class between kindergarten and primary school meant that all five-year olds would have to repeat a school year, the Minister of Education said.

Dr Louis Galea was commenting on the proposal, approved at the MLP general conference yesterday.

Dr Galea argued at a press conference that school children who did not need to repeat a year should not be made to do so.

The Labour proposal, he said, was applicable to all children in state, private and Church schools.

He said implementation of the Labour proposal would require 220 more classrooms and 220 more teachers. Several schools, especially Church schools, did not have the space for more classrooms. The salaries bill would rise 4.2 million euro, with parents who send their children to private schools required to pay fees for an additional year.

He said the government was already taking measures to help children who, at such a young age, showed they needed extra assistance, but it would be wrong to have all children repeat a year.