Seán Crowe
Ceist:5 Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the efforts to introduce a nationwide book lending scheme in primary and post primary schools. [25632/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 22 September 2011
Ceisteanna (5)
Freagraí ó Béal (5 píosaí cainte)
As the Deputy will be aware, I am keen to examine if there are ways to encourage schools to establish or maintain book rental schemes, using funding from the book grant scheme. I believe this to be one of the most effective ways of lowering the burden of the cost of school books. I have invited the national parents councils at primary and post-primary levels to provide me with examples of good practice of book rental schemes. Drawing on the experiences and perspectives of both schools and parents, I intend to issue general advice to schools on the operation of book rental schemes. I anticipate that the guidelines for schools will set down some underlying principles, address practical issues for schools and parents and provide examples of good practice in the operation of book rental schemes.
We all support the Minister on this issue. He stated earlier this year that he intended to meet publishers in a bid to have them implement more ethical practices in the area of school book costs. The cost of uniforms is a linked issue. When will the cost of sending a child to school be reduced? As this is September, school books and uniforms have been bought for the school year. People had hoped steps would be taken to address the cost of school books and uniforms prior to the school year commencing. While that may have been an unreasonable expectation, it was widespread. What progress has been made on introducing a nationwide book lending scheme and reducing the cost of school uniforms? What is the timescale for implementing such a scheme? Will it be in place next year? The costs of some books and uniforms are crazy. Parents who have to fork out €50 for a child's jumper tell me they have never spent €50 on a jumper for themselves. Some of them have to buy uniforms for two or three kids.
To the best of my knowledge none of my predecessors took an interest in this matter and no initiative was taken at a political level in Marlborough Street to address it. It was regarded as an issue for schools and parents, which is not a view I share. We must intervene. If a school book rental scheme is in place, the likelihood of individual teachers at post-primary level changing, for example, a geography textbook after five, six or seven years is diminished because the geography teacher would have to persuade the person who is managing the book rental scheme, let us say in the case of a school with three streams, to change 90 books at €10 or €15 per book. There is a double benefit in that parents will participate in the scheme and the likelihood of changeover and additional costs can be diminished. Elements of geography do not change as the shape of Ireland or height of Carrauntohill remain the same.
We want to find what is best practice. We do not know what is the position at primary school level. Every October a type of census letter is sent out to each primary school to gather information which, among other things, determines the allocation of teachers based on pupil numbers. We are writing separately to post-primary schools and including in the census letter a specific question on whether the school has a book rental scheme. As the Deputy will be aware, there are small and large schools in the primary sector. I hope to have the information by Christmas. I will analyse it and I hope to initiate a process to have the scheme established before the end of the academic year, in other words, before June of next year, in the primary and post-primary sectors. We are making informal inquiries as regards what can be done with regard to school uniforms. I recognise that both school books and uniforms, which were items of extreme cost in good times, are a significant burden in these challenged times.
A survey carried out by the Irish Association of Credit Unions found the cost of sending a child to school to be approximately €400 per annum. We no longer have lots of money. Is it possible to fast-track this process? We all accept that parents have been ripped off when buying school uniforms. Cartels are operating in relation to sales of uniforms for many schools. This is wrong and must change. If necessary the Minister should use every power available to him, including the withholding of funds, to force certain school boards to move into the 21st century.
As the academic year starts in autumn and finishes in June, we have only one window, as it were, to introduce the change. It cannot be done in mid-term. It is a little like the all-Ireland final. As the people of Kerry know, they will have to wait 12 months before they can have another crack at it. I hope to be in a position to have the two issues the Deputy raises addressed for the next academic year.