Schools, families reeling as Book Grant is abolished
HUNDREDS of local families will be hit hard when the abolition of the Government's School Book Grant Scheme takes effect next year.
Tens of thousands of euro in funding for Kilkenny families will be lost when the scheme is abandoned in one of the country's latest cost-cutting measures
The cuts, announced in the recent Budget, were overshadowed by other education cutbacks which will see increased class sizes and fewer teachers in schools, but local schools say it is a vital measure which will be sorely missed.
Presentation Secondary School will lose more than f11,000 which will affect about 130 families, according to school principal, Cathal Cullen.
Mr Cullen said the abolition of the scheme was a great loss for schools.
"This issue isn't getting a whole lot of airing because of the other cuts, but it's a sizeable amount of money to be lost," Mr Cullen said."If you replicate the money we're losing across all the other schools in Kilkenny, it's going to have a big impact. Books are extremely expensive and this will impact on families harshly."
The news was a hot topic at a recent meeting of the Presentation's Parents' Association where outraged parents discussed the cuts. Families at Presentation usually apply for the grants and the successful applicants receive vouchers to use in the book shop.
More than f25,000 will be lost from the book budget for the neediest families at Kilkenny College, according to acting principal, Aubrey O'Keeffe.
St Brigid's College, Callan will lose in the region of f8,000 which goes towards families in need.
"This is money that parents will now have to fund themselves," St Brigid's principal Pat Power said. "The loss will be felt strongly by students and their families."
A message on the school's website marks the abolition as "unjust and strikes at those who are the most vulnerable in our society". Mr Power said it meant that the school's attempt to have 100% participation for its students would be defeated by the news, as "some children will simply have no choice but to opt out as their families will be unable to meet the cost of school books".
A national demonstration against the widespread education cuts will take place in Dublin on Saturday (December 6) in Parnell Street at 12 noon. The Kilkenny branch of the Post-Primary Education Forum, a group which represents the management bodies, Pare-nts' Associations and teachers' unions involved in second-level education, is asking parents around the county to turn out and support the demonstration.
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Monday 21 May 2012
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