Overall Costs Of Sending A Child To School Go Up

Overall costs of sending a child to school go up

Barnardos says it now costs 785 euro to put a child through their first year of secondary school - an increase of 50 euro. The children's charity says the overall costs of sending a child to school have gone up this year compared with 2014. It now costs 365 euro for a senior infant - up 20 euro - while it is up 10 euro to 390 for a child in 4th class. The average price of books has increased by around 25 euro, and voluntary contributions now average 150 euro. Barnardos CEO Fergus Finlay says those contributions are a massive burden on parents. "Two-thirds are asked for a voluntary contribution, and it goes from 100 to more than 200" he said. "We have parents saying to us they're terrified their child would be picked on, that they get e-mails, that they get texts; that they pay a bit, whatever they can afford, and then they get texts about the rest and so on" he added.