Richard Hogan: Free primary school books are incredible, but what about secondary?

Pic: iStock

It’s late July, which means the back-to-school machine is in full operational mode. 

I used to work in a bookshop in Douglas, Cork, and was always struck by how soon into the summer holidays the back-to-school propaganda was disseminated. 

It seemed a bit nuts to me, but then again I was only in my late teens and early twenties, and anything well organised and designed to ease parental pressure was a world I was unfamiliar with. Not so, anymore. 

Having three daughters, I know just how important it is to plan anything. Even going to the local shop requires some planning, you certainly need shoes! Life, as a parent, is busy.

We’re all heading off on the annual Hogan holiday soon, and I am wondering how much of a holiday it will be. 

In our infinite wisdom, we have selected a city break for this year’s summer holiday. Ah, culture. 

Florence the destination, Santo Dio! So much to plan and so much to do before we even set foot in Dublin Airport. 

It’s that old Louis C.K joke, going on holidays is a lot of work, packing up the car and putting the kids in, it’s so much work, when I close the door from the kids, and walk around to the driver's side, that’s my vacation. I feel like that sometimes. But I digress. 

We decided last week, like all those parents I used to stare incredulously at coming into the bookshop in early July, to get supplies for September, to purchase my eldest daughter's new school uniform and school books. 

It would be great to get it out of the way before the summer holiday, that was the logic fuelling our middle-aged preparation. The wheel had come full circle.

My eldest daughter is moving from primary school into secondary school. I have to say, it is a bit of an emotional time. 

Seeing the child change, and move towards adolescence. Her agency forming. ‘It’s about being together differently’; that’s what I have been saying to parents for so many years, in relation to their ever-changing and metamorphising dynamic with their sullen teenager. 

It’s good advice, and I’m trying to put it into practice. 

So, it’s an interesting time; seeing if all this theory I have been spouting holds water, but it is also a very expensive time. 

Things have changed somewhat since I was helping the good people of Douglas to procure school books back in the '90s. 

Last week we were left with a bill for €1,110. Holy God! It broke down as follows; compulsory iPad - €600, uniform €250, school books €260. 

We haven’t even thought about new school bags, stationery, daily transportation to and from school, and lunches. 

The cost of living crisis has hit every family home in this country. But that just seems like an extortionate amount of money to fork out on the whole ‘back to school’ for one person. 

What would we do if we had three or four children in secondary school, like so many parents in this country?

Now we are fortunate enough, as a family, to be able to afford that bill, but it certainly hurt. 

Richard Hogan. Photograph: Moya Nolan

I was left wondering how in the name of God do other families who are less fortunate, financially speaking, afford to pay for their children’s basic requirements for secondary school. 

It is that squeezed middle that rarely finds articulation in the media. 

The pressure on those parents to meet the financial demands placed on them to provide for their children, while receiving zero support from the government, seems more problematic than ever. But their voice is silent. And it is something the government must look at. 

We are constantly being told how well the country is doing, and talk of rainy-day saving is in the air, before Budget 2023 is released in September. The government is clearly trying to manage our expectations. 

But for many families, this is rainy-day stuff. Working with teenagers for over twenty years, you get some insights into how they like to live. 

They like designer gear and they certainly don’t want to be the odd ones out when it comes to fashion. 

That can put incredible financial strain on families, not to mention the cost of uniforms, books, and technology. And then there is a holiday to think about too. 

Put all that together and you have an insight into the struggle many families experience at this time of year.

The new scheme launched by the government; ‘the free primary school book scheme’ is an incredible initiative that alleviates the pressure on parents in a cost of living crisis. And it should be applauded. 

The removal of that financial burden from parents is significant but they also need to consider parents of secondary school students, because the financial burden there is far more than primary school. 

The pressure placed on students from the points race places a huge burden on some parents as they opt to provide their children with extra tuition. That cost can be significant. Not to mention the many school trips that are on offer during secondary school.

I have listened to so many parents desperately articulate the pressures on them to give their child all the experiences the school offers. 

Often parents in that squeezed middle have to work a number of jobs, to meet the financial burden while their children go through the educational system. And it doesn’t stop there. 

University awaits at the end of that long 6-year process. Those fees can be prohibitive unless crippling bank loans are accessed. 

The squeezed middle rarely are discussed during political debates. But the burden on them is huge. 

Back to school is just another aspect that places incredible strain on the family unit, and while the government’s initiative to remove the price of primary school books from parents is wonderful and progressive, it also needs to consider the price of secondary school books to help alleviate that huge pressure.