Back to school - Big test for parents and their pockets

SCHOOLDAYS may be the happiest period of children’s lives but they can be the most miserable time for parents.

The reason is that, for many thousands of parents on a limited budget, the joy of seeing their child either starting school or going back to continue their education is tempered by the realisation of the huge financial burden this places on them by having to find the money for books and other educational equipment. Their counterparts in the North have no such worries as all classroom resources there have been free since 1947.

The results of a survey of annual school costs by the charity Barnardos reaffirms the urgent need for the Government to take effective measures to reduce that burden.