Good news, mums!
Mummy Pages has officially launched its sixth annual ‘Back-to-School’ survey results with a number of interesting new insights into the role technology plays within parents’ annual education bill.
With 9 in 10 parents keen for the Irish Government to reduce the VAT rate on e-books and e-reader devices, it remains to be seen if such a move would hurt the Exchequer too much in the pocket to see action.
It’s that time of year where everyone is looking to get a piece of the ‘Back-to-School’ pie, namely to promote the sale of goods and services, whether it is school uniforms, shoes, sports gear or a financial savings or loan product.
At Mummy Pages, we aim to be the voice of the ordinary mum (and dad), who is just managing to keep their head above water when it comes to household bills and giving their children a summerholiday they deserve and one their hard-working parents desperately need.
Our Mummy Pages parents don’t qualify for ‘Back-to-School Allowances’ designed for no or low income earners, however they too find this time of year financially stressful and will gladly cut corners where they can.
After more than five years spent lobbying the Government for policy change with regards access to generic school uniforms in State schools, together with our parents, we got results! So now we move on to invoke change with respect to the next most expensive item on the list - school books.
There were so many interesting facts discovered in our gorgeous survey, but the following were the most important:
- 98% of MummyPages mums would like to see the Irish Government introduce a zero VAT rate on educational e-books and the e-reader devices used to display these.
- 59% of parents claim to have experienced financial difficulty in putting their child through school in the last year compared to 56% last year.
- 68% of parents find the school uniform and footwear the most expensive aspect of the 'Back to School' bill.
- A HUGE 84% of parents this year, will purchase a mix of generic and specialist school uniform items compared to 67% last year.
- ONLY 34% of parents received a formal communication from their school as to where they could buy a generic alternative to their crested school uniform.
- 79% of parents think the Voluntary Contribution should be outlawed / banned, up from 73% last year
- 91% of parents find August the most financially stressful month for school related expenses
- 69% of parents would like the school to purchase all of the physical school books, e-books and e-readers for post-primary school children in order to secure a better deal for parents and students.
- 87% of parents are concerned about the effect that school books downloaded to e-readers or tablets will have on their children’s eye health, ability to get a good night’s sleep, and overall learning ability - up from 54% last year.
- 71% of parents would like their school to facilitate a wider range of after-school activities for their children to participate within at a more cost effective price-point.
According to Laura Erskine, our gorgeous Mum-in-Residence for MummyPages:
“After five years campaigning for policy change with regards crested uniform requirements in our State schools, we have finally been heard. This year parents preparing for their back-to-school finally have the right to buy generic, regardless of their school's historical uniform policy.
Since school uniforms have long been the most expensive item on our mums’ school bill, we are proud to see that our efforts to lobby for change have been successful and our mums can breathe a sigh of relief.”
“As Ireland’s biggest online community of parents, we will continue to be the voice to advocate for fair policies and laws that put the needs of our families and children at the centre of reform. Next on our MummyPages agenda is launch a new appeal to the government to introduce new guidelines for publishers of educational textbooks and a zero VAT rate for e-books and e-readers.”
She continued, calling on the government to step in and help parents: "The government need to step in on this issue and enforce a policy that does not allow publishers of primary and secondary educational textbooks to update these without prior permission. Any changes should be in line with government approved changes to the school curriculum and international best practice in teaching methodology.
When you consider that the government is providing increased funding to schools for more expansive book rental schemes to help save parents money, it would make sense that they also control the frequency of these textbook updates so that they too get maximum return on their investment."
"When it comes to technology, most of our MummyPages mums believe that the government need to introduce a zero VAT rate on the purchase of tablets and laptops for a child’s educational needs. We are already hearing lots of concern within our mum community as to how they will meet the costs of their child's secondary school technology bill without getting into debt."
“And while some bodies would like to see more books available in a digital format to save on Back-to-school costs, our MummyPages mums are worries that learning in this format is not good for their children's eyes, conducive to learning or a good night’s sleep."
“Ireland's much heralded ‘free’ education is anything but, according to our MummyPages mums, who face excessive post-primary school related costs of over €1,800 per child throughout the school year. If technology was subsidised by the Government through a zero VAT rate charge, and become more involved with the provision of educational textbooks, then we cut this bill by at least a third.”
