More parents are hit with cost of school iPads

THE number of parents that have been asked to pay for school iPads and laptops is on the rise, according to children’s charity Barnardos.

According to the charity’s School Costs Survey 2018, 25% of the secondary school parents surveyed have reported that their child needed a tablet or laptop for school, with 81% of those parents having to cover the cost of the device themselves.

June Tinsley, head of advocacy for Barnardos, said: ‘From a cost perspective it is not necessarily cheaper to go with a digital format purely because you have to pay for the devices, the eBooks, and the licences – and eBooks have a 23% VAT while textbooks don’t.’

The survey, which was completed by 2,201 parents, 1,448 of whom had children in primary school and the remaining 753 had children in secondary school, also found that 15% of parents with children in primary school reported that their child required a tablet or a laptop for school.

According to a spokesman for the Department of Education, the decision to use tablet devices is a matter for each school’s board of management, adding: ‘Where the use of tablet devices is being introduced, schools should specify generic rather than branded items,’ he said.

‘Assistance is provided through the School Books Grant Scheme for books, including eBooks, for children in all recognised primary and post-primary schools. All schools are encouraged to operate such a scheme, under which there was some €7million in funding to primary schools in 2017,’ he added.

According to the Barnardos survey, the back-to-school costs have increased in 2018 across both primary and secondary schools.

Parents will now be expected to shell out €360 for senior infant pupils, €380 for a fourthclass pupil, and €765 for a first-year student. In 2017 and 2016, 23% of parents of secondary school students reported that their child required a device such as tablets and laptops. That number for parents of primary school pupils was 14% last year and 12% in 2016.

The average cost that parents paid for devices this year was in the region of €700, according to Barnardos.

However, this is not always a one-time expense.

According to Barnardos, the use of these devices creates further expenses, especially in the case of tablets, where they may get damaged, requiring repairs or replacement.

Another parent told Barnardos that laptops and tablets were supposed to reduce family costs and the bag weight that pupils would have to carry around, but this is not the case.

‘They have so many books and hardback A4 project books that it’s just as heavy and expensive as before. The cost of the iPad is just extra on top of the traditional costs.’ said the parent.

The department’s current policy on devices in schools comes from the Digital Strategy for Schools 2015 to 2020.

According to the department’s spokesman, €210million will be allocated over the period of the strategy.

Average cost in region of €700