Minister Quinn announces he has ring-fenced €15m in book grants for the next school year
New research by the Department of Education and Skills shows that 76% of primary schools operate a school book rental scheme. The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., asked the Department to undertake an investigation of book rental schemes in order to examine ways to reduce the financial burden of school books on families.
The 3,300 primary and special schools nationwide were asked in their annual returns to the Department if they operated a textbook rental or loan scheme to enable pupils to rent or borrow some or all of their main books. 99% of schools answered the question and more than three quarters said that they did. The results at second level were not as conclusive, as only 44% of the 723 post-primary schools responded to the question in a separate survey. Of those who did respond, 88% of those in the VEC sector and 73% of those in the Community & Comprehensive sector operated a book rental scheme.
Minister Quinn also announced that he is protecting the level of funding of grants to schools for books in the coming academic year. “Despite the challenging economic times, this government is committed to doing everything it can to reduce the financial burden of school books on families so I have ring-fenced €15 million in textbook grants to be distributed to schools next month.” This money will be distributed at the same rate as last year to DEIS and non-DEIS schools.
“I am very pleased to see the high level of book rental schemes in operation at primary school level and want to encourage this practice across all schools in our education landscape,” continued Minister Quinn.
“I am publishing draft “Guidelines on Developing School Textbook Rental Schemes” today in order to share best practice on these schemes with all schools in primary and post primary.”
The new guidelines are as a result of collaboration between the Department’s Inspectorate, the National Parent’s Councils primary and post-primary, Barnardos and the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Minister Quinn has invited education stakeholders to comment on the guidelines by June 15th. Last year a number of organisations including the SVP and Barnardos argued that the Department should adjust or make mandatory the operation of book rental schemes in schools.
The Minister asked the Department to examine such a proposal and the results are included in a new publication Report on Textbook Rental Schemes in Schools and the Allocation of Textbook Grants by the Department of Education and Skills. The report examines if the ring-fenced money available for book grants could be targeted to encourage schools to establish textbook rental schemes. It presents four policy options for consideration. These range from no change to the existing distribution of textbook grants to schools, to making grant allocation conditional on having a book rental scheme.
Minister Quinn said, “I am very conscious that attempting to change the way book grants are allocated to schools in any way is likely to be disruptive to schools and that is why I have decided not to make any change to the way in which book grants are issued to schools for the coming academic year 2012-13.”
“None of the proposed changes outlined in the report are ideal – each one involves a trade-off of advantages and disadvantages. I now want to get the opinions of the representatives of teachers, principals, school management, parents, students and others about the policy options outlined in this report. Following this feedback, I hope to make a decision by the end of the summer so that if there are any changes to the book grant scheme, schools will have a year’s notice,” he concluded.
ENDS
For more information contact Deirdre Grant 01 889 2417
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Notes for Editors: Two new reports accompany this press release:Textbook Rental Schemes in Schools and the Allocation of Textbook Grants by the DES
http://www.education.ie/admin/servlet/blobservlet/schools_book_rental_scheme_rpt.pdf?language=EN&igstat=trueGuidelines for Developing a Textbook Rental scheme in Schools
http://www.education.ie/admin/servlet/blobservlet/schools_book_rental_scheme_dft_guidelines.pdf?language=EN&igstat=trueInterested parties are invited to submit their comments and suggestions on these reports by email to:
mary_ryan@education.gov.ie or By post to: Mary RyanMAC Support UnitDepartment of Education and SkillsMarlborough Street, Dublin 1 To arrive no later than 15 June 2012. Department Book Grants to Schools, 2012 for 2012-13 school year School typePrimary schoolsRate per capita*Post-primary Schools in the Free SchemeRate per capita
DEIS schools€21€39
Non-DEIS schools€11€24
*A minimum grant was paid to small primary schools in 2011 based on an enrolment of 60 pupils. Notification will issue to schools shortly informing them of the payment of the grant into their accounts.