A group representing school principals has raised concern about the extension of free school books to 5th and 6th year students.   

The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals has argued their members do not believe there is adequate supports available to them to deliver the scheme in its current form.  

NAPD Director Paul Crone urged the Government to exercise caution. 

“Our concerns are around the capacity in the schools to deliver this properly and inappropriately - without impacting and affecting other areas within the schools,” he said. 

“We do have concerns that the current specialist administrative support is not currently available in schools to roll this out as it should be rolled out.” 

A teacher in class with students. Image: Roman Lacheev / Alamy Stock Photo

Mr Crone said buying thousands of books is not a simple task for school staff. 

“The challenges are around procurement and the technical expertise to navigate the European wide e-tenders,” he said. 

“Other challenges include the logistics of distributing so many books [to] so many students and the space and the time that that takes.

“It’s around having the personnel that will take that responsibility to do that at school level.” 

Currently, the free books scheme covers primary school pupils and those in Junior Cycle at secondary school. 

Main image: Pupils with school text books. Picture by: Marijan Murat/dpa

Reporting by James Wilson and Pádraig Wilson McCarthy.