A Longford INTO representative believes a two point reduction to the pupil-teacher ratio is required to reduce class sizes across the region.
New figures from the Department of Education reveal almost one in eight primary school children were in an overcrowded class last year.
Executive committee representative Carmel Browne says evidence shows children learn better in smaller groups, particularly students with additional needs.
The stats which were published in today's Irish Independent show class sizes in a number of schools across Longford, Leitrim and Roscommon are above the EU standard of 20.
The Longford native says the issue has been raised by INTO for over twenty years.
It is as big an issue in the small schools as it is in the larger schools.
In our Shannonside region there are numerous children, like in Westmeath there are 54 classes of over 34 children.
That's the same as for Longford with 19 and Roscommon with 37.
it's right across the board and what happens with the smaller schools with mixed classes is they are crowed into classrooms because the number of pupils aren't there to make up a teacher per class.
