Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has outlined a range of measures that he hopes will lead to lower costs for school books for parents.

With around 514,000 primary school pupils and 322,500 secondary school students heading back to the classroom this week following the summer break, Mr Quinn has identified the issue as one of his top priorities.

A recent study by Barnardos revealed costs for textbooks could range from 350 euros for junior infants up to 850 euros for second level students.

"My main objective in proposing these measures is to ensure that costs to students and their families are kept to a minimum and I believe that a number of steps can contribute substantially to achieving this objective," the Minister said.

He has proposed offering discounts to schools that purchase in bulk, stopping the publication of single-volume textbooks and workbooks and reductions in the price of items for the most popular subjects, such as English and maths.

However, the Irish Independent has reported publishers have been wary of the plans, with a spokeswoman for Folens, one of the country's largest publishers, stating: "We won't be making any rash decision on reducing prices."

Written by Donal Walsh
 

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