Vol. 476 No. 6
114 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Education if she will provide assistance for persons in receipt of lone parent's allowance towards the cost of books and exam fees to ensure that their children do not lose educational opportunities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7867/97]
There are schemes of grants towards the cost of providing school text books for necessitous pupils in first level and second level schools. These schemes include provision for pupils from single parent families who are dependent mainly on social welfare payments, are on low income from employment or are experienceing financial hardship from particular circumstances in the home. The book grant schemes are administered by schools in a flexible way under the terms of the schemes based on their knowledge of the particular circumstances in individual cases.
The allocation for the primary level book scheme for 1996-97 was £2.427 million; an increase of approximately 47 per cent since 1993-94. The allocation for the second level book scheme for 1996-97 was £3.85 million which represents a 37 per cent increase since 1993-94.
My Department operates a number of measures aimed at alleviating hardship arising from the payment of examination entry fees.
For the 1997 exams, a provision of £500,000 has been made available to schools in order that entry fees may be waived or reduced in the case of necessitous pupils. School authorities are advised that, for the purposes of the scheme, a necessitous pupil may be defined as a child from a home where genuine hardship exists because of unemployment, prolonged illness of parent, large family with inadequate means, single parent, more than one child doing the certificate examinations, or other circumstances which would denote a similar degree of domestic financial hardship.
In addition to the above provision, my Department also operates a scheme under which the fees of candidates repeating the leaving certificate are waived or reduced. A candidate who remains at school to repeat the leaving certificate is normally charged both a course fee, £100 in 1997, and an increased exam entry fee, £125 in 1997. Where, however, the parent or guardian of the candidate is the holder of a current medical card, the course fee is waived and the examination entry fee is reduced to, at a maximum, the ordinary leaving certificate fee payable by first-time candidates, £46 in 1997.
It is my intention to improve the provisions for alleviation of examination fees on an ongoing well targeted basis and as resources become available to me.
