The National President of the Society of St.Vincent de Paul, Mairead Bushnell, led an SVP team which met the President and General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) at SVP headquarters in Dublin this week to discuss been increasing concern voiced by parents and their representative groups to discuss the high cost of school books and extra-curricular and its impact on low income families.
The SVP outlined the wide experience and knowledge of the situation gained through the family visitation carried out by its volunteers nationwide. They said that parents were questioning why these repeated changes are necessary, why tutorial and text revisions cannot be treated in a different way, for example by amendments being issued, as is done in other publishing operations, rather than the printing and selling of revised books. This means that families cannot, as in the past, hand books from one child to another.
National President, Mairéad Bushnell, said parents were being subjected to greater strain over school books, other additional fees, such extra-curricular costs, ‘voluntary’ contributions and increased transport cost.
The Society has written to all the teacher unions about the situation and expressed appreciation of the personal contact with the INTO.