SCHOOLS ARE to receive substantial discounts when they buy in bulk for school book rental schemes.
All the main educational publishers confirmed last night that schools purchasing in bulk for the rental schemes will gain discounts of up to 17.5 per cent.
The breakthrough came after a meeting between the publishers and Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn – the Minister’s second meeting with the educational book publishers since taking up office.
After the first meeting in June, eight educational publishers agreed a new voluntary code of practice.
This will see no revisions to existing text books for four years unless there are alterations required because of curriculum or examination changes.
Under the code, old editions will be kept in print for two years (unless annual sales fall below 500 copies). This means a new edition of a textbook will be available for a minimum of six years. Publishers also confirmed that online revisions to textbooks will be available.
At yesterday’s meeting, Mr Quinn proposed that schools which purchase textbooks in bulk should be given a significant discount.
In response, most publishers confirmed schools can expect discounts in the range of 12 per cent to 17.5 per cent.
The Minister has also asked department officials to contact all primary and secondary schools to determine which schools operate book rental schemes. This information is being gathered as part of the annual census of schools at primary level, and by a survey among post-primary schools.
Last night, Mr Quinn said: “My main objective in proposing these measures is to ensure that costs to students and their families are kept to a minimum, and I believe that the steps achieved to date will contribute substantially to achieving this objective. I will continue to prioritise this issue over the coming months.”
Folens, Ireland’s largest educational publisher, said yesterday the code would provide certainty for teachers and parents over the next number of years. This commitment will support school rental schemes, improve second-hand book sales and contribute to an overall reduction in cost to schools and parents in the coming years, it said. Folens chief executive John Cadell said: “Folens would point out that the recent Barnardos research showed that schoolbooks only make up 21 per cent of back to school costs for primary children.”
