Vol. 403 No. 8
189 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Education whether her Department have issued any guidelines to printers and distributors of second level school books in relation to costs; if she will list the names of the printers and distributors concerned; and if she will make a statement on the level of charges to parents of second level students.
As the publication and sale of school books are in the hands of private companies it would not be open to me to issue guidelines on costs. There is no set lists of printers and distributors.
The syllabus planners try to avoid overfrequent changes and are conscious that they should avoid any unnecessary increase in costs. However, textbooks must be changed from time to time if teachers are to keep their work educationally stimulating, and if content and methodology are to be kept reasonably up to date.
My Department are aware of the financial strain placed on parents of school pupils in providing school textbooks for their children and have drawn the attention of school authorities to the desirability of changing non-prescribed textbooks as infrequently as possible in order to save parents undue expenditure.
Provision is made for payment of assistance towards the cost of textbooks in the case of necessitous pupils. The scheme is administered through the principal teachers of the schools. I am pleased to say that this grant has been increased significantly over the past two years. It was increased by 20 per cent and 23 per cent in 1989 and 1990 respectively.
