A private sixth-form college has announced plans to open the State's first commercially-run junior secondary schools in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
Bruce College has said it will open the three schools next September for 12-to-16-year-olds studying up to Junior Cert. Until now the college has catered mainly for "grind school" students working for the Leaving Cert.
The director of the project, Mr Tim Crowe, yesterday said they felt there was a market for such private secondary education at junior level, partly caused by the "Celtic Tiger". "Up to now parents have sent their children to us for fifth and sixth years. The results have been so successful, they have asked us: `Why don't you put on first, second and third years?' "
Fees in the new schools will be about £1,500 a year, thus ruling out students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Mr Crowe said the new schools' selling points would be first that classes would be no larger than 20 students and second that there would be homework classes every afternoon built into the timetable so that when they closed at 5.30 p.m. students would be free to do what they wanted.
He said he expected two classes with a total of about 40 pupils in each school to be ready to start next September.
Mr Crowe added that students would be encouraged to become involved in sport, drama and debating.
Each student would have a personal tutor. Religion would not be taught and there would be an emphasis on computers and modern languages.
Mr Charlie Lennon, general secretary of the ASTI, said parents should be aware that the kind of school proposed tended to focus on "training for exam techniques rather than offering a broad, general education".
A Department of Education spokesman said Bruce College had applied for the proposed schools to become recognised under the rules for secondary schools.