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EVERY YEAR THOUSANDS of parents across the country receive letters from their children’s schools asking for voluntary contributions.
The payments usually cost in the region of €100 – €150 for each student per school year but despite the ‘voluntary’ term, schools often claim these fees are essential.
One parent contacted TheJournal.ie after receiving a letter from his children’s school which outlined that it would not give the book rental scheme and school trips if the money was outstanding.
A spokesperson for The Department of Education said that voluntary contributions are allowed but that it must be made absolutely clear to parents that it is not compulsory to pay and that, in making a contribution, they are doing so of their own volition.
The letter in question stated, “This is not a voluntary contribution and all pupils are expected to pay in full.”
For a larger image of the letter, click here.
The spokesperson said the manner in which voluntary contributions are sought and collected is a matter for school management, “however their collection should be such as not to create a situation where either parents or pupils could reasonably infer that the contributions take on a compulsory character”.
“Apart from those recognised fee-charging second level schools, recognised primary and post primary schools are precluded from charging school fees.
No charge may be made, in respect of instruction in any subject of the school curriculum or for recreation or other activities where all pupils are expected to take part.
What can schools seek payment for?
The department said school can seek payments for extra-curricular activities once they are not obligatory and each pupil can choose whether or not to participate.
Voluntary contributions may be requested from parents provided it is clearly stated that there is no compulsion to pay.
The Department’s Circular 0065/2010 clarifies certain charges that may be legitimately requested from pupils. They are as follows:
A spokesperson for the Education Department added that, “In relation to charges for meals/activities/services that are non-compulsory, it is a matter for the parents concerned to decide whether to avail of the meals/services/activities in question and therefore whether to pay for same.
They also stated that “apart from the legitimate charges listed above, a school cannot impose compulsory charges”.
State funding withdrawn
The spokesperson added that a voluntary secondary school in the Free Education Scheme is eligible to receive a range of state grants on condition that it does not require mandatory fees or payments from existing pupils or from those seeking admission to the school.
This means that a school cannot impose compulsory charges or registration fees on existing or prospective students and state funding may be withdrawn from schools found to be in breach of this requirement.
“Where an allegation is made to the Department that there is some compulsion regarding contributions in a school, the Department will follow up with the school in question.”
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Honestly, Pakistan. India. Morocco. How are these idiots protesters not seeing what’s really happening here?
They are probably in pensionable employment in the asylum racket.
Activists have never had to worry about their actions making sense, they just want to know there is someone else to make noise with them.
Now we have the other nationalities, mainly Afghans, turning on the Syrians because they are getting preferential treatment!!!!
Am all for helping refugees but there is nothing wrong with their countries that were mentioned in the article. Most of them are economic migrants which may not be approved if they went through normal asylum processing. We want to help true refugees like from Syria. I can’t believe that people don’t see that as they are illegal migrants, not true refugees.
If we wanted to help as many Syrian refugees as possible we and EU would try to improve conditions at the refugee camps in and around Syria. The immigration crisis is one of Merkel’s making
Journal, why did you put an unrelated picture of a boy in a refugee camp as a cover for this story? Is he getting deported? Or is it a well known emotional bullying tactics?
They can’t put up a photo of boats full of mature men on boats coming from Pakistan. Better to show the odd kid
They should just put a picture of a smartphone up as that would represent the current crisis more accurately .
Why don’t they ever put up of any pictures of the 1,250 women who got raped and sexually assaulted in Cologne as the muslims played their ” sex game” Taharush?? Imagine that, 1250 women in ONE NIGHT raped and sexually assaulted, the mind boggles.
Journal.ie, what’s with all of the pictures of the children when according to UN stats over 70% of these people are young male migrants? Why don’t you post pictures of mostly men to reflect the proper demographic of these people? Journal.ie, why are you engaged in propaganda that is attempting to soften up the gullible for mass migration of muslims from the middle east??
Journal.ie, why don’t you do a feature story on the 1,250 women who where sexually assaulted and raped in ONE NIGHT in Cologne by these peoples????
Thats not in their objective.. piss poor journalists..
They did a story on the Cologne attacks Seamus. Back when it happened, more than 4 months ago. But don’t let facts get in the way of your moronic conspiracy theories.
Jay, unfortunately, its you that’s the moron and a very gullible one at that!!
So explain to me Seamus, what agenda are you accusing TheJournal.ie of? What is the motive of TheJournal.ie in promoting pro-immigration propaganda? Who is making that decision and what do they have to gain? Who else is part of this overarching media conspiracy? Is it controlled centrally? By the Jews perhaps, or lizard people?
You are the sort of babbling moron that we laugh at the Americans about on their right-wing media. You have zero ability to understand anything more complex then a ham sandwich. I’ve met 5-year olds with a more subtle and nuanced understanding of geopolitics than you. And the worst thing is that you’re beyond help. You were probably born beyond help. Some things will always be beyond the capability of some people. I’d sooner teach calculus to my dog then make you a functioning human being.
Good I’m getting sick of the site of them!
You do know that as part of the agreement with Turkey is that for every person that goes to Turkey, One Registered Refugee comes into Europe and it’s just to clear the Island of Greece. Are you okay with that?
“Human Rights” Lefties interfering… They are not migrants, they are chancers..Did they do any protesting to stop the human smugglers packing dinghies and drowning thousands of people? No of course not.
wow a 100 sent back. should be sending 1000 a day or more until we get rid of every last one of them
Well in a sense they’re justified in feeling that way. No one was opening their borders to them when they were fleeing war. Nor the Iraqis.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I have no issues with genuine Syrian families taking refuge here or anywhere in Europe while their country is having the sh 1 t bombed out of it. But as this ‘controversial’ scheme is showing, that’s not what Merkel has invited over.
That was in response to Original Cynic. Damn it journal get your reply button working
Testing “reply”.
It’s working.
Merely pointing out that the situation is becoming even more chaotic with migrant groups now turning on each other.
Job well done lads
‘Underage’ Migrant Rapes 15 Year Old on Second in SwedenDay http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/05/underage-migrant-rapes-15-year-old-sweden/
How many sexual assaults and rapes until a halt is put to this madness, or is it considered collateral damage?
The Che Guevera tshirt wearing,safe space do-gooders expect us to get on with it,and tolerate the intolerant I reckon.
They have white privilege so it’s not rape. Geez guys, open a feminist textbook!
Jesus, I’ve seen higher intellectual capacity in a jar of mayonnaise. It’s like reading crayon scribbles of the mentally disabled.
Why wasn’t the tagline #controversial used when thousands of illegal economic migrants arrived from Turkey and were allowed stay?
WHAT ABOUT TURKEYS SECTARIANISM TOWARDS THEM AS THEY WOULD BE SHIA’S??? THAT IS WHY TURKEY IS HELPING ISIS???
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29528482
“”Our biggest problem was our allies,” Mr Biden told students at the Harvard Kennedy School.
“The Turks… the Saudis, the Emirates, etc, what were they doing? They were so determined to take down (Syrian President Bashar al) Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens, thousands of tonnes of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad.”
These policies ended up helping militants linked to al-Qaeda and ultimately IS, he said.
Mr Biden also claimed that Turkey admitted it had let too many foreign fighters cross its border into Syria. ”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-25/meet-man-who-funds-isis-bilal-erdogan-son-turkeys-president
It’s amazing what mass brain washing does when people think imaginary lines between country’s made by governments and men in power to hold on to their money is more important than children starving. What a cold race we have become
The only people with washed-up brains are left wing bigots. Mass immigration is not solution to the world’s problems. Simply because the “West”does not have enough money, resources, space to accommodate all who would like to move in here. Not to mention “cultural differences” and head hacking of course. Get this simple truth into your empty heads.
get them all out of here. plenty of countries like them, let them stay there.. They are just here for the benefits.. until we are sending 1000+ a day home I wont be happy
A bit like jesus and no room at the inn
Your right.that was another made up story
I prefer the story of the trojan horse myself for an appropriate analogy.
A bureaucratic ” solution ” to a humanitarian crisis.,
A group of Pakistani men who are chancing their arm because they know they won’t get an actual work visa is not a humanitarian crisis.
get every last one of them out of here.
have your say