St Vincent de Paul petition to cut wasteful changing of schoolbooks [schooldays.ie]
- Published: 31 May 2011
The Society of St Vincent de Paul has is seeking public support for its campaign to reduce the publication of unnecessary new schoolbook editions.
It is asking parents to sign a petition calling on the Minister for Education and Skills to set up an effective national book rental scheme.
The petition is available at www.svp.ie/books
“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 dumped. It's crazy - and unnecessary.” said SVP National President Mairead Bushnell.
“Education is a right, and it's supposed to be free. But 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. By the time they leave school, a family with four children could have spent as much as €3,200 on secondary school books alone, that most of the time, can’t even be reused.” she said
In most European countries schools run school book rental schemes, where schools buy the books and rent or loan them out to students in return for a small fee or deposit. This means that teachers can set a book and be sure that there are enough copies for all their students.
Full Story: www.schooldays.ie
