Vol. 501 No. 3
370 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that children are paying for examination papers (details supplied); if so, the plans, if any, he has in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6094/99]
I am not aware of the specific case to which the Deputy refers involving sample examination papers.
My Department provides sample examination papers to schools without charge in respect of proposed new examinations or changes to existing examinations. This is to enable teachers to introduce students to the changes involved. It may be the case that a school might ask students to contribute to photocopying costs where it is school practice to provide students with individual copies. There would be nothing exceptional in a school seeking such a contribution on the same basis as for any other material that a school may reproduce for pupils.
The Deputy may be interested to know that my Department is currently preparing a CD-ROM of past examination papers that will be made available free to schools before the end of the current year and which will be suitable for use on computer hardware provided under the Schools IT initiative. There are also plans to publish past copies of examination papers on the Internet.
