School book bills continue to put extreme pressure on struggling families

Thursday, August 27, 2009

THE cost of school books and accusations about unnecessary new editions pushing up costs have been the subject of debate, radio discussions and pub talk in recent days, as parents do the last of their back-to-school shopping.

There is little doubt that thousands of families will find the inordinate costs, particularly for those starting second-level education, too much to handle at a time when they may already be struggling to meet the costs of uniforms and shoes which might not even last beyond Christmas for many children.

Our sample book lists, pictured and priced right, from a primary school and second-level school in Cork city show the typical costs to parents of books alone, without the additional burden of copybooks, stationery, school bags, sports gear and uniforms.

At the primary school, junior infants’ parents face a bill of just under €30 for the relatively light load of six books (for English, maths and religion), before buying a range of copies and stationery. While this is quite cheap, many schools provide further lists in later terms for younger pupils and the number of books rises each autumn as children progress through primary school.

The budget needed to put a boy or girl into second-level school is almost as enormous for parents as the emotional burden the transition from primary means for many children. Our sample book list, for a student taking nine compulsory subjects with home economics and German as their optional subjects, comes in at a total just shy of €350, although many of the books should last the three years through to Junior Certificate in 2012. Other items which parents must buy, along with copies and stationery, for a student starting at this school include English and Irish dictionaries, a copy of the Bible and hardback science lab copybooks.

It is understandable, then, that the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) asked this week that the book grant withdrawn from dozens of second-level schools be reinstated to allow them to support poorer families. Its president Peter MacMenamin suggested there should be no changes to the syllabus in any subjects as long as the grant, which he said will save the state a meagre €7.5 million, remains suspended.

“Every time there is a syllabus change, all previous books for the subject are made redundant and new books are produced by the publishers. This will put impossible pressures on families who once benefited from the book aid and are already in dire financial straits due to a range of pressures,” he said.

Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe responded by saying the TUI failed to acknowledge that schools have more funding in the coming year for overall running costs, from which they can divert funds for book rental schemes or similar supports. However, the minister himself did not mention that this extra €14 for every student must also be used to continue programmes such as Leaving Certificate Applied and transition year, for which grants have been removed.

One of Cork’s busiest schoolbook sellers has witnessed more business from parents whose children’s schools normally run book rental schemes, but are unable to do so this year.

“These are schools in underprivileged areas and they would normally buy a new stock of books every three years, but they can’t afford to do it anymore,” said William Geoghegan in Liam Ruiséal’s bookshop.

He said that, while second-level books are revised or updated more often, it is usually a number of years between the publication of new editions.

Fine Gael accused educational publishers of hiking their prices by averages of up to 7% this year and creating a double whammy for parents unable to benefit from book rental schemes or other supports. The party’s education spokesman, Brian Hayes, said it proves parents are being ripped off, but leading publisher CJ Fallon said last night that his figures on its books were incorrect, as more than 100 of its 250 primary school titles are priced the same as last year and just four went up 7%, partly because significant interactive support material was being provided at no charge.

The rights and wrongs of price hikes and of printing workbooks which cannot be sold second-hand or used in rental schemes can be debated forever. The Department of Education could take some lead in the issue, with guidelines to schools on revising book lists from year to year and perhaps also limiting curricular changes that might require new textbooks.

Department officials and Mr O’Keeffe himself could help the situation enormously by blowing the dust off some other controversial volumes on their own shelves. Numerous reports for the minister and his predecessors have recommended greater investment in schools computers and technology, the better use of which could almost certainly help reduce the cost of books for parents, as well as the weight of their children’s schoolbags.Home