Primary teachers have shown little interest in the early retirement scheme offered by the Department of Education, writes Paul Cullen, Education Correspondent.
The Department said it had received 57 applications by the deadline on Wednesday. Although more were expected in the following days, the volume is well below the 150 places available on the early retirement scheme.
The Irish National Teachers' Organisation has blamed the poor response on the short period teachers had to apply and on the time of year, with the school year already under way.
About 25 of the applications were made under the third strand of the PCW, which applies to teachers who are surplus to requirements and cannot easily be redeployed. However, many of these applications may turn out to be ineligible because the criteria are not met, a Department spokesman said.
