The strict criteria surrounding back to school allowances are excluding families who need them, according to Barnardos.
In its annual School Costs Survey, the children’s charity revealed that the average cost of sending a child to junior infants this year is €350, rising to €805 for a student starting secondary school.
Despite the recession, the majority of respondents to the survey of over 500 parents said that this represented a rise in costs.
“My husband is unemployed and I am on minimum wage, yet we still don’t qualify for the (back to school clothing and footwear) allowance,” one parent quoted in the survey said. “It’s disgraceful it is so hard to make sure our children are provided for.”
Another parent complained that it is costing €1,800 to send her three children to school this September. “My husband is currently unemployed and we are really being stretched to meet the costs,” the woman was quoted as saying. “We had to get a loan from the credit union to send our children to school – it’s a joke.”
The charity also pointed out that some 56 per cent of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds attend non-DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) institutions.
“While DEIS schools have had some of their supports ring fenced, schools not designated as disadvantaged have had to bear the brunt of the wide range of cutbacks including loss of resource teachers, language support teachers and special needs assistants,” the charity said.
Some of the major issues raised in the survey were the requirement by many schools for pupils to wear uniforms with stitched-on crests, the need to purchase new textbooks repeatedly during a child’s schooling and transport costs which affected rural students disproportionately.
“The message from parents responding to Barnardos survey is clear: families are struggling to meet the extensive costs of sending children to school,” the charity said.
“The stress of costs that strain already stretched budgets can colour children’s perception of education, making an already uphill battle for learning even harder. Education is a right, not a privilege.”
Breakdown of costs for parents sending children back to school according to the Barnardos survey:
* School specific tracksuits - €35
* School specific jumpers - €40-60
* School specific coats or blazers – over €100
* School shoes - €50-70
* Books for junior infants - €50-100
* First year secondary school student’s books - €250
* Voluntary contributions – €70-100
* Additional contributions sought by schools for photocopying, stationery etc. - €40-50
* Extra curricular activities such as swimming - €75-100
* Transport for primary school - €50 (up to a maximum of €110 per family)
* Transport for secondary school - €350 (up to a maximum of €650 per family)