Joe Sherlock
Question:7 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Education the extra resources which are being provided to fund the extension of the free books scheme to infant classes; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Free Books Scheme.
Pat Rabbitte
Question:23 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Education when the form for book grants for pupils in need, which is normally issued in April of each year, will be issued; the reasons for the delay this year; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Question Nos. 7 and 23 together.
The application form for the scheme of assistance with the purchase of books for needy pupils in primary schools will be in the schools shortly.
I have introduced a grant for assistance to purchase books for needy pupils in infant classes for the first time in 1991. The delay was therefore of an operational nature in order to prepare for the introduction of the new scheme. There has been an overall increase in the provision for the scheme of £284,000, which will provide for the changes referred to above.
The total allocation for 1991 for the free books scheme for primary schools is £1.447 million, which represents an increase of more than 24 per cent over 1990.
There was no delay in issuing the said forms to post-primary schools.
In the case of voluntary secondary schools the relevant forms for aid towards the cost of school books for necessitous pupils were issued to the schools early in April. The majority of forms have now been completed and returned to my Department.
The forms were issued to the vocational education committees on 24 April 1991. They are normally issued in May each year.
The circular letter on the free book scheme is normally issued to community and comprehensive schools in April-May. No date is specified. This year it was issued on 17 May 1991.
The allocation to this scheme for post-primary schools for 1991 is £2.598 million, an increase of 10 per cent on last year's allocation.
Has the form now been issued to primary schools?
It will be in the schools within two or three days.
The Minister stated that this is the first time the free books scheme will be available in respect of infant classes. I raised this matter on a number of occasions over the past few years. The Minister says the £284,000 will be provided but what does that mean to the child in the school? Could the Minister provide books free of charge to infant classes? What is the £284,000 to cover? What proportion of costs will have to be paid by the parents?
The scheme is to cover children who are in need. The fact that such a scheme did not obtain up to now probably had something to do with compulsory school age. That is now irrelevant since over 95 per cent of pupils go to school at the age of four. There was not always such a wealth of good material available in educational aids for very young children. I am aware that Deputy Mac Giolla has frequently asked why infant classes were not included in the scheme. It was one of the measures we agreed under the Programme for Social and Economic Progress. The criteria governing the scheme are sent to principals and managers of schools. I have felt for some time that the scheme did not work to the advantage of those most in need of it. A review is being carried out by a member of my Department in collaboration with another person outside and we hope to have the results very shortly. I hope to devise a much more focused delivery of that money.
Reference was made earlier to parents who have two or three children at third level. The Minister will agree that it is almost the norm for parents to have two or three children at primary level. Would the Minister agree that the need is even greater in these cases? What would it cost to provide infant classes with free books? They do not need a bagfull of books.
The phrase "a bagfull of books" caught my ear. We are accustomed to seeing children of five, six or seven years of age on country roads staggering to school in the morning under the weight of their satchels either in their hands on on their backs. I do not know how they are to absorb all that is supposed to be in these books. That fund is not to allow book sellers to produce better and glossier new books at every whim and drop of a hat, because there is nothing to prove that a glossier, shinier complexity of books will result in better education. This outside agency and the Department are considering the cost of school books. Is there need for constant replenishment and for the amount of books children have to stagger under? Is there need for a vast range of books? The Deputy asked whether two or more children could use the same books. That will be considered in this review. For anyone who has two or three children at school at the one time of course extra cost is involved. I have to be careful that that money is not put to a proliferation of, in some cass, needless texts.
Does the Minister agree that, allowing for the payment of £8.40, the standard rate for a necessitous pupil, even at infant class level we are talking about £28 on average as the cost of books, on top of the other subsidisation parents have to make out of their own pockets? With VAT, telephone bills, ESB, £1,400 for oil and £2,500 for public liability insurance, each school now must produce between £4,000 and £5,000 for running costs. The board of mangement, parents and teachers have literally become fulltime fund raisers between raffles, bazaars and jumble sales and the concept of free education is a myth.
That is another question. The Deputy is seeking to bring in Question No. 5, which was not reached in priority time because the Deputy's colleague and I carried on a wider discussion on Question No. 4 than perhaps was intended. The latter part of the Deputy's question is Question No. 5, which I do not intend to take.
They are all related.
The Deputy said that even for an infant the cost of books is £28. Who said that would have to be the cost of a child's books? Who said the complexity and weighing down of young children with satchels from four years of age is entirely necessary? I am not going to allow the Department's fund for needy children to be eaten up by what I think is a superfluity of available texts.
Question No. 8.
A Cheann Comhairle——
Sorry, we are going on to another question. We have been dwelling unduly long on certain questions. We are making little progress today.
I have a brief question.
A brief question. I shall also have to call Deputy Ahearn.
Will the Minister not agree in relation to infant classes, which is what the question is about, that a large part of the cost is for art materials or materials related to maths, reading and so on? Will she grant cover for materials as well as books?
I have not got information to hand. Many young children in the junior classes are involved in creativity work with their hands and expressing themselves in that way. I am glad we are able, for the first time since the scheme was set up, to give something towards the infant classes. We are doing it and this review will enable sharper focus to be put on many facets of that scheme, with which I am quite unhappy.
Will the Minister agree that perhaps the enormous costs are due to the fact that in recent times in infant classes individual workbooks are used which the children fill in and then they are completed? Educationalists believe this is a very good departure and very effective educationally. Will the Minister not agree that it would be unwise for the Department of Education to suggest otherwise, that, expensive though they are, the lack of use of such workbooks would be counterproductive educationally?
I am not talking about workbooks; I am talking generally about something about which parents attack me constantly. They ask why books are changing every year. A mother will say "I have just put John through such a class and now his sister is going to the same class and the books have all been changed". In commonsense language that is what I am talking about and that is what I am reviewing. I am doing a service not only to the Department in apportioning money but a wider public service as well.