Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join the Chairman in welcoming the organisations before us and I thank them for taking the time to appear before the committee to give us the benefit of their experience of the costs involved in parents sending pupils to school and in the challenges that will arise in that regard in the coming years. I also thank them for their suggestions on how it can be addressed and improved. It has become more and more difficult in the past three years to manage schools, with costs, subsidies and grants from the Government having taken a hit in successive budgets. It has become correspondingly difficult for parents because of the increased burden placed on the communities surrounding the schools to make up the shortfall to maintain the level of service that has been provided.

Surveys show the key costs in pupils returning to school are uniforms and book costs. An issue that is not being addressed this morning is the cost of students in the third level sector. Many families may have children at primary, secondary and third levels and the cost to such families becomes oppressive at third level.

The comments on the school books scheme were particularly interesting. Where one can be set up, it can have an impact on reducing the cost of books to families. Ms Kavanagh referred to the Educate Together school in Adamstown and the fact that the scheme costs one quarter of the cover costs of books. Fr. Connell referred to an example of a school where the set-up costs were €100,000. Perhaps Ms Kavanagh can comment on how to get to the stage where the scheme is up and running without such oppressive costs at the outset.

Fr. Connell referred to reform of the junior certificate. From first to third year, there will be a complete change starting in 2014 and running to 2020 across a range of subjects. It will pose real challenges for parents and schools in terms of the cost involved. That must be given significant attention.

Regarding school uniforms, experiences are different among the witnesses. Some have none and Ms Flynn referred to the existence of peer pressure in schools with no uniforms. I am interested in further comments on that point.

Some pupils in lower infant classes have to leave school at 2 p.m., which has become more of an issue in the past two years. In the past, schools managed the pupils between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., when family members were not able to pick them up or avail of public transport. Anecdotally, it is becoming a flashpoint in some schools.

The code of practice agreed with book publishers seems to be working well. Is that also the experience of the witnesses?