I have set up an advisory committee on textbooks and materials. Its terms of reference include a request to provide guidelines and specifications for textbooks and other teaching materials for use in national schools, to provide guidelines for the information of parents and schools on the selection of textbooks and other teaching materials, to investigate the matter of the optimum weight and size of school bags, to keep new publications under review and to advise the Department of Education on their suitability for use in primary schools.
The Deputy's worry is being addressed by this committee, which includes representatives of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the Catholic Primary School Managers' Association, the Church of Ireland Board of Education, the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, the National Parents' Council, the Heritage Council, the Women's Council of Ireland and the Department of Education, including An Gúm.
This worry has been addressed by the National Parents' Council which, in a report prepared in 1989, suggested that the optimum solution to the problem would have to be addressed at individual school level. I pass nine schools on my way to this part of the city in the morning and I am mesmerised by the shape and weight of what appear to be very heavy school bags which students carry on their shoulders.
My children have been through this experience but Deputy Martin's are only beginning. There is something to be said for asking children to empty out their school bags and to show what they carry in them. I say that as a very practical response as a parent to a worry about the weight of my children's school bags. That is a role which parents can play.
Parents can also look at timetabling. That begs questions about the voice of parents with school managements. This is a problem which all the edicts from the Department of Education will not resolve. One has to ask why some children carry heavier bags than those of their counterparts in other schools who are taking the same subjects. As I said, this problem is best resolved at individual school level but there are roles for parents and school managements.
The advisory committee was asked to address this issue before the Deputy brought it to my attention because it is a problem which everybody faces. However, the answer does not lie totally with the Department of Education. The Department has a role to play and when the guidelines are made available to me I will share the information with the Deputy. Deputy Browne is not with us today but he raises this subject in the House at the start of each school year and, as a consequence of his concern, this is now included in the terms of reference. I do not want to pre-empt the findings of the advisory committee currently sitting, but I will be delighted to share any recommendations they make with the Deputy.