asked the Minister for Education if, in view of the financial hardship imposed on parents by the purchase of school books, he will consider prescribing suitable text books for the various grades in national and secondary schools, so that only one set of books will be necessary for members of the same family.
Ceisteann—Questions. Oral Answers. - Purchase of School Books.
It will be appreciated that it is desirable on educational grounds that the same text books should not be used indefinitely in national or secondary schools. The unnecessary changing of books is, however, discouraged by my Department.
Some years ago a notice in the following terms was issued to managers and teachers of national schools for their guidance:—
(1) In a separate class or standard in charge of one teacher, the readers and text books, when selected, are not to be changed, unless in exceptional circumstances, for a period of years.
(2) In a division, consisting of two or more classes or standards combined, in charge of one teacher, a similar principle is to be adopted. The readers and text books, when selected, should be changed in any year only to the extent which is absolutely necessary. In such cases, of course, pupils will require fresh reading matter, and possibly fresh text books, in their second year in the division, but the same readers and text books should be used in the division every third year at least. The provision of fresh text books, as distinct from readers, by pupils in their second year in a division should be reduced to a minimum.
It was added in the notice that under this arrangement, it would be possible for books kept clean and in good order, to be transmitted to brothers and sisters of pupils who had used them or to be acquired by other children who needed them, and, as a consequence, the cost of book equipment to parents of pupils of national schools would be considerably reduced.
In prescribing texts for secondary schools, also, the question of keeping the cost as low as possible is borne in mind. For the most part a three year rotation of standard text books is prescribed for the different languages. In the case of Latin and Greek the rotation is a four year one and in the case of English poetry, 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, whilst there is not a prescribed rotation of prose texts, the same texts are, in fact, repeated frequently.
Would the Minister state what steps have been taken to ensure that these rules are observed in the national schools?
The schools are regularly inspected by inspectors to keep a close watch on what is developing. I do not think there is any serious complaint that the rules are not being observed.
I suggest that somebody should keep a closer watch on the inspectors.
There is at least one national school to my knowledge where the books in respect of children up to and including third standard are changed every year. In one particular case in a mixed infants' school—the buildings are separate—a twin brother and sister have two different text books for the same grade.
The offices of the Department are not far from anybody. A letter will reach us inside 24 hours so that if there is any serious complaint the matter will be brought to the notice of the Department and it will certainly be looked into. On the other end of the scale, you have the managers who are in charge of the schools. I am sure the managers would take an interest in any complaint made to them. There is no reason why any group of people should labour under a serious disability in this respect because if the complaint is made it can be very easily investigated. The attitude of the Department is quite clear from the regulations which have been in existence for a long time.