Diarmaid Ferriter: Obvious solution to resented ‘voluntary’ school contributions

  • 📰 IrishTimes
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 38 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 19%
  • Publisher: 98%

Education Education Headlines News

Education Education Latest News,Education Education Headlines

Voluntary contributions amount to about €30 million a year. Abolishing them would not be exorbitant

students: €250″. A voluntary contribution per family of €250 is also often requested; there are additional fees listed for art materials, field trips, workshops and mock exam fees, collectively amounting to more than €300; and if a student is in transition year, an extra €400 on top of that. These are before school transport costs, where relevant, and school uniforms.

Schools say they have no alternative to these demands as they do not receive enough State funding to meet everyday expenses. What this amounts to is double taxation; it also completely undermines the veracity of the meaning of “free education”.Barnardos has been highlighting this problem for 19 years and its survey for this year reiterates long-standing sentiments: “74% of primary and 78% of secondary school parents said that their schools requested a voluntary contribution ...

The solution is obvious and would not be exorbitantly expensive. It is the Department of Education itself that provided data relating to 2021 suggesting about €30 million a year was being paid in voluntary contributions to make up for funding shortfalls.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 3. in EDUCATİON

Education Education Latest News, Education Education Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Jacqueline Jossa sparks ferocious debate as she shows off kids' new school shoesJacqueline Jossa shares daughters Ella and Mia with husband Dan Osbourne, and told her followers on social media she had ‘beaten the rush’ and got her girls ready for school
Source: IrishMirror - 🏆 4. / 98 Read more »