asked the Minister for Education whether he is aware that the text books in Irish, English, Latin and French prescribed for the Intermediate Certificate course and for the Leaving Certificate course vary from year to year and that the purchase of the different series of books is a serious burden on many parents; and, if so, whether he will have the position examined with a view to arranging that standard books shall be prescribed in the several language courses.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Prescribed Books for Examinations.
In selecting texts for the secondary school language courses my Department has borne in mind the question of keeping the costs to parents of the purchase of these texts as low as possible. From the educational point of view, however, it is not desirable to prescribe the same texts from year to year. Having regard to these two factors, the Department has for the most part prescribed a three year rotation of standard text books for the different languages. In the case of Latin, however, the rotation is a four year one but, on the other hand, in the case of English and French poetry and English prose the rotation is such as to permit of the same text books being used year after year. As regards Irish, while there is not a prescribed rotation of prose texts, the same texts have, in fact, been repeated several times. The effect of this system of rotations is that the same texts are repeated at regular intervals and that the expenditure on books, particularly for different members of the same family, is kept at a minimum.