Parents are sick and tired of forking out huge sums of money on schoolbooks that will have to be recycled
Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore has called on the Government to address the high cost of schoolbooks for parents of secondary school students.
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party’s spokesperson on children, said:
“I know I speak for many parents of children in secondary school when I say we are sick and tired of forking out large sums of money every year for schoolbooks. It is particularly galling that parents have to recycle perfectly good books at the end of each school term and that siblings are unable to transfer e-codes to each other.
“Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of schoolbooks are thrown out each year just because there are minor changes made to new editions. This is both costly and wasteful.
“Ideally, I would like to see free schoolbooks extended to secondary schools, as will be the case at primary level from September. Until this happens, the Department of Education needs to bring in the publishing companies and discuss how costs can be reduced for hard-pressed parents.
“This has been going on for far too long. Given that we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, such needless waste of money and resources should no longer be tolerated.”
July 5, 2023