Free books for junior cycle students in secondary and special schools in Meath on the way - Tolan

Free school books will be available for Junior Cycle students in public secondary schools and special schools in Meath from September it has been announced.

Funding of €68 million is being provided for this initiative which will benefit 212,000 students enrolled in approximately 670 secondary schools nationwide. The scheme was announced last year as part of the budget.

Fine Gael Councillor Sharon Tolan welcomed details of the landmark scheme which will ease the financial burden facing families during back-to-school time from September.

Cllr Tolan said: “This scheme is so welcome as it will ensure that parents and guardians of students enrolled in Junior Cycle years in public secondary schools will not be asked to buy or rent any schoolbooks for the 2024/25 school year.

“It will offer free schoolbooks, and core classroom resources for all students in Junior Cycle years in secondary in the free scheme in the 2024/25 school year, which will help parents and guardians with the pressures of back to school costs every year," she added.

“I am also pleased to confirm that Meath special schools where children and young people with special educational needs are enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes will also receive the Junior Cycle rate in respect of these students in 2024/25.

“The announcement also delivers on Fine Gael’s commitment to have a first class education system, which was contained in the Fine Gael 2020 General Election manifesto,”

It comes as free schoolbooks, including the cost of any workbooks and copybooks, were introduced for primary school students from September last year.

“And schools in Meath will be provided with sufficient funding to cover the costs of providing these items," said Tolan. Schoolbooks will be the property of the school and must be returned at the end of the school year or the Junior Cycle."

Fine Gael TD and Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion Josepha Madigan said: “The delivery of this Programme for Government commitment will make a real difference to back-to-schools costs for parents and guardians of students with special educational needs attending mainstream and special classes in post-primary schools.

"Importantly, where a student in a special school is enrolled in Junior Cycle programmes the school will receive the post-primary school books rate, which will further support their learning and development.

"As with the primary scheme, schools have the flexibility to use funding to purchase classroom resources to meet the specific learning needs of students once the cost of schoolbooks and core classroom resources are met. This flexibility is particularly important for students with special educational needs.”

The Department is issuing guidance for post-primary schools and any post-primary schools with queries about the scheme can contact the Department directly. Guidance can be found here