SVP petitions minister to set up schoolbook rental scheme [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 20 May 2011
THE St Vincent de Paul is to meet with the Minister for Education in the coming weeks to try and convince him to help families who are struggling to cope with the cost of schoolbooks which it has branded "crazy and unnecessary".
According to its estimates, by the time they leave school, a family with four children could have spent as much as €3,200 on secondary schoolbooks alone, that most of the time can’t even be reused.
The SVP said the constant flow of unnecessary new editions means that families are forced to keep forking out for new texts, while tonnes of books end up being dumped.
A petition has been set up at www.svp.ie/books, to call on Ruairi Quinn to set up an effective book rental scheme.
"Ireland is one of only a few European countries to make even the poorest pay for books. It’s a shocking burden on hard-pressed families," the SVP said.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
