moneySeomra Ranga did a survey last school year to ascertain the extent to which teachers were personally financing the ongoing education of their pupils. It revealed that teachers were digging deep into their own pockets to finance many things which some people would regard as “basics” for the classroom.

We now want to focus on the extent to which parents are funding primary education in this country. We all know the many and varied instances that arise during the year where parents are asked to make contributions to the school to pay for certain items. There are the school plays, trips outside the classroom, travel to football matches, the book fair and many others. For the purposes of this survey, we just want to focus on three items that parents may be asked to finance in schools: voluntary contributions, photocopying/art & craft and swimming. We are asking teachers to report as honestly as possible what parents are being asked to pay for these items this school year so we can get a snapshot of the extent to which parents are funding these items.

Many people will question the idea of the “voluntary contribution” but many schools will claim that, due to cutbacks in funding from the exchequer, this is necessary to pay for many essentials like heat and electricity. Swimming and art & craft are both subjects on the curriculum, yet they require significant funding in order for pupils to be able to take full advantage of them.

Please fill out the following anonymous quick survey to get an idea of how much parents are being asked to fund primary education this year. Questions with an asterisk (*) are required questions.

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