Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 July 2024
855. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Education the total number of students at primary and post-primary level in the 2023-24 school year; and the expected student numbers at primary and post-primary level for each of the next five years. [33443/24]
View answerFor academic year 2023/24 there were 546,758 pupils in primary schools, 9,326 pupils in special schools and 416,620 pupils in post-primary schools.
Data is taken from the relevant final enrolments for 2023/24 and can be found at the link below:
www.gov.ie/en/collection/63363b-data-on-individual-schools/
Enrolment projection data has been taken from our recently published projection report for primary and post-primary and it can be found on our website at the link below:
www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/289143/3fe06be4-1842-40f7-8963-c771aa62bd5d.pdf#page=null
The ‘Projections of Enrolment’ report from the Department of Education’s statistics section covers the 2023–2042 period.
According to the report, the number of pupils in primary school is likely to decline from around 558,000 this year to around 533,000 in 2026 and to around 499,000 in 2030.
The projected number of post-primary pupils is expected to increase from around 417,000 this year to around 430,000 in 2026. The figure is then projected to decline to 418,000 pupils in 2030.
Peaks are therefore expected to be reached in the number of primary school enrolments this year and post-primary enrolments in 2026.
It is anticipated that there will be some 5,000 fewer children entering junior infants in 2026 than in 2022.
The ‘Projections of Enrolment’ report covers the 2024–2042 period. It presents three different potential scenarios for pupil enrolment numbers, based on different levels of net migration (M) and the birth/fertility rate (F). The Department believes that the most likely outcome is the “M1F2” scenario, which is a high level of net migration and a steady birth rate from 2025 onwards.
The previous report “Projections of Enrolment report” was published in 2021. Given the ongoing uncertainty around the impact of the situation in Ukraine on future migration, this latest enrolment report is to be viewed as interim and will be updated again at the end of 2024.
The tables in the report showing the different enrolment scenarios, including the M1F2 scenario which the Department believes is the most likely, are available at the link below (assets.gov.ie/289142/cdd8e49e-5115-4647-8a16-41f1ae34f3d2.xlsx)
