More than 200 pupils boycotted classes at Bohermeen National School near Navan in Co Meath yesterday in a dispute between their parents and the Department of Education over the number of teachers in the school.
Because the school is four students short of the required number, the Department of Education is refusing to sanction a replacement for a substitute teacher who is on maternity leave and has told the school that it had no right to employ a teacher who had been deputising for the substitute.
The teacher's class of 20 infants is now divided among other classes. Parents have accused the Department of being unfair to the children. "It's not just the infants but the other classes that are affected by this upheaval," said parents' spokeswoman Ms Jackie Smith.