It’s claimed soaring school costs are causing major financial woes for parents in Clare and other areas across the country.
Children’s charity Barnardos has released a list of costs today which show that 800 euro is needed to start a child in first year, while primary pupils are having to spend one hundred euro on books.
Clare FM’s Ben Sweeney reports:
Children’s charity Barnardos has released it’s annual schools costs survey which shows parents are having to fork out up to 800 euro to send their child to secondary school or up to 400 euro for fourth class pupils.
Generic school uniforms are more common at primary level than secondary level with parents spending 95 euro on average for primary pupils and between 150 and 200 euro for uniforms at secondary level.
The survey has also found that almost half of all parents have to cut back on daily essentials and paying bills in order to fund back to school costs.
Barnardos claims the prices are plunging families into debt and spokesperson June Tinsley says it’s unfair.
Voluntary contributions to schools, and classroom resource fees have also been flagged as high costs along with school books, which cost up to 100 euro for primary school and sometimes over 300 euro at second level.
Labour Senator Aodhan O’Riordan says a free book scheme could help bring down back to school costs – he believes it’s something the Government should consider:
