Society of St.Vincent de Paul Calls on Teachers to Help Parents
There has been increasing concern voiced by parents and their representative groups about the way in which school books are changed every year, with huge cost repercussions for families. Questions have been raised as to 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.
The Society of St.Vincent de Paul has taken up the issue and written to the three teachers’ unions, expressing concern at the practice of prescribing revised editions of textbooks at the start of each school year.
Ireland is one of the few European countries where school books are not provided free to all students in the education system. Students in Northern Ireland and Britain have an automatic entitlement to free school books.
Adding to the problem for parents in the Republic, the Minister for Education has removed the school book grant for most schools, which will compound the strain felt by parents, according to the SVP, whose National President, Mairead Bushnell, said there is “deep and growing concern” about the practice of revised text books and the use of work books, all of which make it impossible for families to purchase second-hand books or to have books handed from older to younger children.
The Society has offered to meet the teacher unions to discuss the issue.
Letter by SVP National President to the TUI