Tubber

Hundreds of years ago most people in Ireland could not go to school. The only schools were bardic schools, for people who were going to be poets.The monks in Ireland created great centres for learning in their monasteries but like the bardic schools not everyone got an education.
Hedge schools became very common during the penal times of the 17th and 18th centuries when education was forbidden for Catholics. Many travelling schoolmasters set up hedge-schools where children were taught reading, writing and arithmetic.

School as we know it today began in 1831 when a law was passed that set up the National School System in Ireland, to educate children between the ages of 6 and 12 from all classes and backgrounds.

Tubber National School was opened in 1852. It was part of the present chapel. The fifth standard was the highest-class level and there were about one hundred pupils in school.
The first teacher was James Kelly whose salary was £24 per annum in addition to any fees he got from his pupils. The Senior classes paid 1/- per quarter but some of the pupils were so poor that the teacher would reduce the fee for them.
The subjects taught were Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, History and Geography. Classes were held from 10-4 in Summer and 10-3 in Winter. Children who could afford it bought steel pens, but the others used pens made from quills.