Almost half the people who took part in a consultation survey disagree with the plan to introduce parish primary schools.

A tally of the entries in the Parish Primary School Consultation Submissions report revealed that out of a total of 108 parents, educators and education stakeholders who filled out a response form, 48 per cent or 52 participants said they disagreed with the plan and 33.3 per cent or 36 agreed with it.

Key factors in the Government’s decision to reduce the current slate of 18 primary schools to ten include the trend of declining enrolment, ageing and declining facilities that cannot support the delivery of 21st-century education, and “the need for equity across all primary schools”.

A total of 38.8 per cent, 42 people, disagreed with the reasons or rationale, while 16.6 per cent, 18 people, did not know.

A total of 131 written consultation responses were submitted representing more than 1,000 consultees.

A submission which opposed the closure of St George’s Preparatory School included more than 700 signatures and one opposing the closure of West End Primary School represented the views of more than 200 people.

The report said of the submissions: “Although many of the suggested alternatives were comprehensive in nature, most did not partially or fully tackle the issues to be addressed by the introduction of parish primary schools.”