The issue of costly school uniforms and voluntary contributions must be addressed, says Laois TD

AS the new school term nears Laois TD Brian Stanley has called for the issue of costly school uniforms and voluntary school contributions to be addressed.

“Back to school costs are again a major worry for parents this year,” said the Independent Republican TD.

“Parents who contact me are already facing a cost-of-living crisis in terms of the cost of groceries, of insurance, and electricity etc. Back to school costs put further pressure on them each year. I acknowledge the free schoolbook scheme, but we also need to have generic uniforms and help with the cost of buying digital devices such as laptops etc. for their children.

“According to the Irish Credit Union League the average cost of having a child in Primary School is €1,450 and for secondary school €1,560. A Barnardos survey this week stated that 54% of parents are worried about meeting costs.” 

The Portlaoise based TD said: “Parents also must face the voluntary contributions, which are basically a charge on each parent to meet the essential overheads that schools must cover such as keeping the heating going, insuring the school and so on. Of course, they’re not voluntary contributions because parents feel pressurised into paying them. 27% of parents of secondary school children and 14% of primary school parents say that they must dip into savings or take out loans. They then must raise money to pay for their own essentials like utility bills etc.” 

 “We need to reduce the cost of getting children back to school. An obvious area that would help is to finally get to a position where schools would accept children just having generic uniforms, in other words the same colour tops, trousers or skirts without costly uniforms.

“The so-called ‘voluntary contributions’ must be addressed by Government. This issue arises because of the low capitation grants, which is the annual funding given to schools to cover costs such as electricity, heat, insurance etc. This is clearly insufficient, and schools have been reporting to me right throughout the last two years that they are struggling to meet day to day overheads. This is effectively putting a levy on parents, which they feel pressured to pay. The Government needs to make sure this grant is increased to an adequate level in the upcoming budget this October.

I recently met with the teachers’ union (INTO) who are demanding increased capitation grants. The Government needs to send guidelines to schools regarding generic uniforms and help with laptops and IT equipment. We need to get away from a situation where we have stressed out parents every year,” said Deputy Stanley.