Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It is not feasible to legislate on the weight of school bags but I appreciate what the Deputy is saying. The problem is even greater for first year students because, at 13 years of age, they decide to carry to school all the books for all their new subjects.

Some of the problems that have arisen, which must be weighed against each other, concern the fact that certain junior certificate courses, such as history, are three-year courses. Some of the textbooks are composite books that cover the three years and parents therefore prefer to buy them rather than three separate books because doing so is cheaper. However, although they are cheaper, the child must carry more weight, bearing in mind that the problem can arise in respect of books for all subjects.

Another difficulty arises because teachers like books that encompass all levels. Where honours, ordinary and foundation level students are all in the one class, especially during first and second year, they must all work from the same textbook rather than three different ones. This is a practical problem that must be addressed at school level.

The provision of lockers is important and we provide funding for them as part of our furniture grant under the schools building programme. This is one way of ensuring that students do not have to carry heavy textbooks to and from school every day. Students will not pull a bag behind them because it does not look cool. If they did so, it would alleviate the problem, but if one is 13 one does not want to do so.

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