Over 22,000 pupils are enrolled in schools across Clare, new figures from the Department of Education have revealed.
The data also reveals that Catholic primary schools still account for the vast majority of enrolements in the county, as Clare FM’s James Mulhall reports:
Figures released by Education Minister Joe McHugh reveal 22,023 pupils enroled in both primary and secondary schools across the Banner County last September.
The 2018/2019 intake is a marginal increase of 99 on the previous school year.
Clare primary school numbers fell to 13,602 in September, a decrease of 80 pupils.
Of that number, 97.5% of pupils are attending a Catholic primary school, with 324 enroled in multi-denominational schools and just 18 in Church of Ireland schools.
But there is a much wider gap in terms of Catholic education when it comes to second level.
In terms of post-primary, 8,421 pupils in all are enroled around the county.
This includes 4,427 in Catholic schools, which multi-denominational schools accounting.
The average sized of a secondary school student population in Clare, meanwhile, is 468 – that’s below the national average of 503.
James Mulhall, Clare FM, first for local news.
