BRUSSELS – As pupils started to return to school on Wednesday, the Minister-President of the French-speaking  part of Belgium said class sizes should not exceed 20 in the future.

In an interview with La Libre Belgique, Marie Arena, who is also Wallonia’s Education minister, said a new way of calculating class sizes should ensure the target is met.

She said the current average class size was 20 pupils, meaning some classes had more than 20 and others had fewer.

In rural areas, she said, classes were often grouped together under one teacher.

The socialist minister said the system is based at present on numbers of pupils registered on January 15, with no allowance given for extra children joining in September.

In the future, she promised, schools would be able to include a five percent margin in their calculations to take account of these late arrivals.

Arena’s calss size plan marks the latest step in a major plan to improve educational standards in Wallonia.

[Copyright Expatica 2004]

Subject: Belgian news