Galway bay fm newsroom - There's been an increase of over 30 percent in the number of students attending GRETB schools since 2013.
The Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board operates 20 schools in Galway, and a further 4 in Roscommon.
This year, GRETB schools recorded 7,545 registered pupils across 24 schools.
Of those, most are second level students while almost 1,500 are undertaking PLC courses.
Meanwhile, 80 primary school children attend the two GRETB primarcy schools in Knocknacarra and Lecarrow, Co. Roscommon.
While this year's enrollment numbers are a very minor increase on last year, they represent a more significant increase of 33 percent in student numbers since 2013.
A meeting of the GRETB board has heard of the challenges presented by Covid-19 - with further education training programmes facing particular difficulties.
The meeting was told there's been an under-spend, and students are facing significant delays in accessing some courses, due to the practical nature of many programmes or apprenticeships.
However, a commitment was given that every effort is being made to find solutions and GRETB is in a good place - and has done well in retaining further education students during this difficult time.
